Super Smash Bros Clash
by Darkblur
Summary: Master Hand is throwing his fourth SSB tournament, and is calling back all of his old fighters as well as several new ones. One of those fighters is happy to be back at the Smash Mansion with his friends, but may find much more than that...
1. Returning

This is my first attempt at writing a Super Smash Brothers story, but regardless, I'll give it a shot. The main character (of sorts) will be Lucario (Since he's my favorite from the game) and...I'll just let you see for yourself.

What I will say though, is that this is my version of how the _next _tournament beyond Brawl will play out (which means new characters, new stages, and new items) and the time that the fighters spend in the mansion, which means more chances for random events that should cause laughs (I hope, this my first time of actually trying to make humor a part of a story).

Anyway here's the DISCLAIMER: I do not own Super Smash Brothers or any related characters or items or locations except for this version of the Smash Mansion.

So now you can enjoy!

Chapter 1 Returning

Lucario was walking along on his own through a forest somewhere in the Hoenn region of the Pokemon world, an old worn sack hanging from his right shoulder. He wasn't talking or looking for someone or lost, he was just...wandering. After all that's all that he could do...no home to live in, no relatives or family to spend time with, and he sure as hell wasn't going to get captured by one of those uppity Pokemon trainers.

Everytime a trainer saw him, that trainer would have their own Pokemon attack and start throwing those infernal red-and-white balls at him. The trainer didn't care about what he was doing; enjoying a meal, practicing his attacks, he was even ambushed by a trainer's Machamp while trying to catch a little rest...boy did those two learn to never wake him up again.

Lucario sighed a little, took an Oran berry out of the sack, and popped it into his mouth, smiling slightly at the sweet taste of the juices. Suddenly a bright flash of light appeared in front of him forcing Lucario to shield his eyes. When the light dimmed enough, Lucario looked to see Mew floating there, a small letter clutched in its paws.

Lucario looked at the letter and smiled a little. _Looks like its that time again..._ he thinks while walking up to Mew. "Hello Mew, I'm guessing that letter is for me?" he asks the small Pokemon.

"Mew!" it replies enthusiastically while handing the paper over.

Lucario chuckled a little...Mew was always so happy-go-lucky and goofy and that was one of the few things that could get Lucario to chuckle. The larger Pokemon took the paper, unfolded it, and began to read...

_Dear Lucario,_

_Hello again! I'm writing in the hopes that you are in good health and spirit, but this letter is by no means a simple 'Hello and how are you?', I'm extending an invitation to you for the next Super Smash Brothers tournament! As I said last time, it is up to you whether or not you come, however I will say that I have extending invitations to several new fighters and gathered new information to create new arenas and weapons. Simply tell Mew your answer and if you say yes, he'll teleport the two of you to the mansion._

_I hope you decide to attend!_

_Sincerely,_

_Master "N" Hand_

Lucario lowered the paper and looked at Mew, who had its head cocked a little to one side. "Mew?" it asked inquisitively.

"Yes Mew, I will be attending this tournament."

Mew smiled widely, released another enthusiastic "Mew!", and teleported the two of them away.

* * *

When the light around him died off, Lucario still saw Mew floating in front of him, but the forest had changed into the outskirts of an urban town...the town of Smashville.

This town wasn't like any of the towns Lucario visited in the Pokemon world...Smashville was populated mainly by humanoids, but there were several other, anthropomorphic creatures mixed in. Furthermore, all of the 'humans' were about four, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the same applied to the anthros which came in several varieties of animals from a planet named 'Earth'.

Originally the mansion existed on Master Hand's (and his brother Crazy Hand's) home planet, but after the Subspace Incident left their planet in ruins, Master and Crazy Hand had to move their home to another planet. Master chose this place for his mansion because (almost) all of the locals were very friendly and there was no home field advantage to the combatants, no-one on this planet was real SSB material and the crowds were impartial...unlike they would be in the Mushroom Kingdom for example.

Lucario smiled a little at the slightly familiar surroundings and began walking through the streets, Mew silently following him in the air.

Many of the residents of Smashville stopped what they were doing when they saw one of the Brawlers walking down the street and stared. Most remained a respectful distance, but a few treaded a little closer before backing away.

The larger Pokemon sighed a little at the reactions of the natives. _I wish they wouldn't do this...sure I stand out, but they're acting like I could rip 'em in half at any moment..._Lucario thinks while silently walking past a few more of the inhabitants; one human and two lions, all three of them had stopped and become nervous when the Pokemon neared. Lucario sighs again and continues on his way to the Smash Mansion...his favorite place, mainly because Master Hand made sure to keep empty Pokeballs from functioning. He couldn't be caught there.

After ten minutes of walking Lucario comes to the big, twelve foot high front doors of the mansion. He admires the large, ornate, red-marble doors for a second then reaches over a presses the doorbell.

"_Ding! Dong! Dang! Do-ong! Do-ong! Dang! Dong! Ding!_"

A couple seconds pass and the right door quietly slides open, from behind it pokes a head with blue eyes, a bushy moustache, and a red cap with a big 'M' on it.

"Oh! Hi there Lucario!" Mario says while extending a hand, "I see you decided to join."

"Hello Mario." Lucario replies while gently grasping the plumber's hand and shaking it. "Has anyone else arrived yet?"

"Apart from us there's just a few others. I doubt that seven fighters is it though." Mario replies while standing aside and allowing Lucario and Mew in. "Mew, Master Hand was looking for you."

Mew nods slightly and floats away, leaving Lucario and Mario behind. "Lucario, Master Hand wants us to sign in over there." the plumber says while pointing to a computer terminal at the near-left corner of the foyer, the only non-ornate object in the room.

"Alright, thanks." Lucario replies. Mario smiles at the Pokemon and walks off somewhere. Before he signs in, Lucario takes a minute to admire the large foyer he was standing in.

The room had very high ceilings, at least 20 ft high at the peak of the arch the straight walls gently sloped into after roughly 10 feet. Dangling from the ceiling were three large crystal chandeliers, each one emitting a soft glow into the room that seemed identical to gentle sunlight. The walls were all polished hardwood, a gentle red color with slight orange hues spread through it. The floor was a checkerboard design of white and black tiles, all of which were smooth and chilled which felt very good on Lucario's bare feet.

Apart from the computer terminal, the only other pieces of furniture were a couple real-wood end tables on both side of the open doorway to the living room and a small lamp sitting on top of them. At the far end of the fifteen-or-so foot long room, growing out from the back wall was the master staircase, which was wide enough for three Donkey Kongs to walk up side-by-side and not be squished together, led up to the second floor landing. To the left of the staircase was the doorway to the basement, to the right was the doorway leading into the trophy wing. On the right wall opened up the doorways to the dining room and study and on the left wall was the doorway to the living room.

Lucario sighs at the foyer's beauty, then walks over to the computer terminal. This terminal, during the smash season, was normally used to send challenges to the other participants, but for now the words "_Please enter your name:_" were displayed on the screen.

Lucario types in his name and presses the enter button.

"_Processing_" is displayed for a couple seconds before being replaced with, "_Welcome Lucario. You are now signed into the Super Smash Brothers Clash tournament._"

A whirring noise is heard while the terminal prints out a map of the mansion.

"_Please report to the main office to receive further instructions, and your room number._" Is displayed for a few seconds before "_Please enter your name:_" is redisplayed.

Lucario turns and walks towards the staircase, but can only take three steps before he feels something hit his leg. Whatever it was didn't weigh that much, since it was barely noticable.

Lucario looks to see Kirby sitting there in a daze, but before a word could be uttered, Kirby quickly gets up and speeds off. The Pokemon was confused at first, but then "Get back here!" is heard from the living room. He turns to see Wario come skidding around the corner and take off after Kirby.

"You will pay for taking my garlic!" He yells while pursueing the puffball up the stairs and around another corner.

Lucario chuckles a little. "Just like old times..." he mutters while moving up the stairs and towards the main office.

The large office was very ornate like the rest of the mansion, and very impressive to anyone. The walls extended about fifteen feet from the doorway, then gently continued on in a curve to leave a rounded end. The desk was about ten feet in, leaving another twelve feet behind it if one counted the round end. The entire room was a sleek white marble and from the doorway to the desk was a soft red rug. The lighting of the room currently came from sunlight filtering in through the curved window that ran the length of the curved wall, but at night-time the room somehow glowed without any visible lights.

Master Hand, a large, disembodied, extremely intelligent right hand, was floating behind the desk, sorting through papers and running computer checks. He hears the red-oak doors creak a little and turns to see Lucario enter.

"Ah-ha! Lucario! It is so good to see you again!" Master Hand exclaims while floating over the desk towards the Pokemon, "I assume that means that you are participating?"

"Yes. Mew quickly found me and delivered your letter."

"Ah Mew...such a fun creature he is. I've already sent him off in search of another possible fighter. Anyway since you have participated in Super Smash Brothers before, I can skip the explanation and hand over your room key."

Master flips over and extends his pinky, at the end of it appears a small brass key with the number 16 inscribed on the end that Lucario takes.

"Room 16 of the fighter's wing is yours. Apart from you; Mario, Wario, Kirby, Pit, ROB, and Mr. Game and Watch have arrived...I'm still waiting on the couple dozen or so other fighters I've extended invitations to."

"Mmm that's okay, I don't mind the peace and quiet." Lucario replies while turning and leaving, "Better enjoy it before the rivals show up and things get loud."

* * *

The Smash Mansion was divided up into several floors; ground floor was all of the main rooms (like living room, dining room, kitchen, study, etc.), as well as home to the game lounge, ballroom, other entertainment rooms, and the library. Second floor was the fighter's suites, offices, brawl room, gym, running track, and training simulators(Multi-Man fights for example), and the third floor was the spa level/clinic. In the basement were various rooms that led to the mansion's computer systems, electrical systems, water systems, and heating ducts, and the roof could be accessed via the third floor.

Lucario strolled over to the fighter's wing, found room 16, unlocked the door, and entered.

His room was (like every room) incredibly luxurious. The king-sized bed had enough room to fit three of him comfortably and the sheets were so soft it was like wrapping yourself in clouds. The mattress and sheets sat inside of a nice frame that was polished wood painted a comfortable ebon-black. The head board went about a foot above the bed's top, behind it on the wall was a semi-circle of white and black checkered tile and around that was a soft-white wall. Next to the bed on both sides stood a small black end-table, on both rested a lamp, but only one had a digital clock.

The floor of the room was covered in a soft, black carpet that was nice and gentle on Lucario's feet. At the far end of the room stood a desk that held up a lamp and a computer. In the corner of the room stood a chair, covered in a soft-to-the-touch black fabric and across from the bed stood a wardrobe. All of this was contained in a large 15x15 foot room.

The doorway from the main hallway led to a smaller hallway that led into the room which opened up in one corner of the room. The reason for this? From the room there were two pathways one could go...into the hallway that lead to the door and directly beside it stood a doorway that led into the bathroom, which was also luxurious.

The floors were glistening white tile, the counter-top around the sink was a smooth, cool, black marble, and the faucet and dials were shiny stainless steel. The mirror above it was flawless, and on the opposite wall hung a towelrack with three fresh, soft towels draped over it. At the end of the bathroom was a white-marble bathtub/shower combo, and there was, of course, a toilet...a very clean one at that.

Lucario admired his room for a little bit, then set his sack down beside the bed and climbed into the sheets.

"I missed this place..." Lucario mumbled happily before slipping off into a content nap.

**

* * *

**

Okay...normally I don't post a story this soon after I dream it up, but I ran into a little bit of trouble with thinking up enough new material to make this tournament interesting. So I figured, why not accept some suggestions? Any sort of new thing will be considered...a new fighter, item, assist trophy, Pokemon from a Pokeball, or stage I'll think over...but I am putting up a couple guidelines...

**For characters: They MUST be from a Nintendo series or they must have had at least one game on any of the Nintendo consoles. Also, no anime characters _unless _they started off as a video game character (That means Master Chief and the DragonBall cast are out, sorry). You don't have to, but it would be nice if you added a couple suggestions for their moveset as well...a couple of the B-button moves or possibly their Final Smash would be nice.**

**For stages: The only rule for these is that they should be from one of the fighter's series (like Bridge of Eldin from Legend of Zelda), otherwise a good reason for inclusion will be needed. Like with characters, descriptions would be nice!**

**For items: Just tell me what it looks like and what it does.**

**Assist Trophies: Tell me who it is and what he/she/it will do.**

**Pokeballs: Tell me the Pokemon and what it'll do.**

**Feel free to put any idea you may have in your review! Who knows...I might just use it!**


	2. Biding Time

**I'd like to thank everyone who has given me a suggestion so far, if it wasn't for you guys, brillant ideas for a newcomer would've passed me by. Seriously, before I asked for suggestions I only had two newcomers...now that number is around six or seven. A special thanks goes to Chef Colette for suggesting ideas for some new Pokeballs...none of those Pokemon you suggested had occurred to me, so thanks. Another goes to Pokelad for helping me upgrade another character from Assist Trophy to actual Smasher...you know who I'm talking about, but keep it quiet!**

**All suggestions are still welcome, and if you've got an idea, don't be afraid to suggest it! I check all of 'em!**

* * *

Chapter 2 Biding Time

Lucario slept peacefully for at least three hours, not like that was hard with the bed he was in. Not only did the mattress gently and perfectly contoured itself to fit against him but it was an enormous improvement over the hard ground or tree branches he had been sleeping in since the last tournament.

Slowly his ruby-colored eyes flicker open, he yawns a little, and silently slips out of bed. He collects his sack and places it on the computer desk before turning the computer on.

Each of the computers in the fighter suites was tied into the mansion's network, mainly to allow for communication and the like. Each computer had E-mail for receiving messages from home or brawl requests, as well as several other functions such as simple gaming, color control (to instantly change the color scheme of the room), and an enormous music library (like every single song from every single band from every single participating world kinda big...literally well over five million songs at least).

Lucario accesses his E-mail, but isn't surprised when the only thing in his in-box was the usual "Welcome to Super Smash Bros!" message that was present for everyone. The only friend he had from the Pokemon world was Mew, and during the smash season Mew hung around the mansion. He knew full well that there couldn't be a challenge waiting since no fights where allowed until _all _of the participating fighters arrived...even the training simulators were offline.

Lucario shrugged and shut the computer off. Since there wasn't really anything for him to unpack, Lucario left his room, locked the door, and began wandering the mansion hoping to run into a couple of old friends.

He didn't have to go far, right as he turned around, Lucario saw Luigi, Mario's little bro, walking down the hallway with a couple fairly large suitcases behind him.

"Hello Luigi." Lucario politely says to the plumber.

"Hey Lucario." Luigi replies while extending a hand with the palm facing Lucario. The Pokemon high-fived him and left.

Lucario strolled out onto the second floor landing of the entry, and looked out across the big hallway. Apart from Diddy Kong (Diddy) signing in, not a noise was to be heard...it was rather odd.

**--CRAASSH--**

Ah, that's better. Lucario quickly looked in the direction of the crash, finding that it apparently came from the dining room. The Pokemon sighed before counting backward in his head._ 3...2...1..._

"Help!" Kirby's voice yelled as he sped out of the kitchen and into the study.

"Get back here!" Yelled Wario's and Pit's voices as they sped after Kirby (Pit is assistant chef in the kitchen which meant that Kirby probably got into the food stores).

Lucario could help but laugh a little, Kirby was always causing mischief, even if he didn't know it. He noticed Diddy shrug indifferently before trotting up the stairs. He and Lucario wave slightly at one another before the monkey continued on...a couple suitcases held up by his tail.

Lucario watched the monkey trot off before he heard the front doors open and turned to see Samus walking in, fully clad in her power suit. The only other thing she had was a suitcase which was currently hanging from her Grapple Beam. Lucario watched her as she walked over to the console, signed herself in, and then proceeded up the stairs.

With her free hand, Samus gave a wave to Lucario who waved back. He and Samus weren't great friends or anything, but they were something of acquaintances since Pikachu was a friend to the both of them.

A couple more fighters entered, signed in, and walked up past Lucario, saying hi to the Pokemon in one form or another. Ness and Lucas signed in together and both high-fived Lucario as they passed, Link politely shook Lucario's hand, Marth and Ike did the same, Yoshi gently punched fists with Lucario, and Captain Falcon (C Falcon from now on) strongly shook Lucario's hand before patting him on the back.

"Are you ready to show me ya moves?" He asked.

"Once a match between us starts, yes." Lucario replies.

C Falcon laughed at this, said, "Ha-ah! Witty!" before walking off with a large suitcase in his right hand. Lucario rolled his eyes, the guy was kind and an okay person to hang out with, but the Pokemon sometimes wondered if C Falcon had all of his bolts tightened.

After the Captain wandered off, Lucario turned his attention back to the entry. No fighter strolled in for awhile, but that didn't mean things weren't interesting. Several times over the next ten minutes, Kirby sped by down below, closely chased by Wario and Pit. Kirby probably hated this, but Lucario found this chase quite amusing and was quietly chuckling up on the landing.

"What's so funny?" asked a gentle female voice to Lucario's right. The Pokemon turned and smiled when he saw Sheik walking up to him.

Sheik and Zelda may have fought as one person in the matches, but they were actually two separate people. Whenever one was called for a match, they both went in and simply switched as necessary. Outside of the matches though, they were quite different...Sheik was the more laid-back, 'I'll take things as they come' girl, while Zelda was more uptight and a schedule keeper. Despite their opposite personalities, the two always got along.

"Its Kirby. The season hasn't even started yet and already he's gotten himself into trouble." Lucario replies.

Sheik groans and rests her hand against her forehead, "Who is it this time?"

"Wario and Pit. The puffball ate Wario's garlic and apparently caused a little trouble in the kitchen."

"Hmm...has he gotten caught yet?"

"Not yet, but they did run into the living room a couple minutes ago. They might have cornered him by now."

Sheik laughed a little before leaning against the railing. "So how have things been since Brawl?"

Lucario shrugs, "Nothing really special happened...dodged trainers, wandered across the Pokemon world...just my usual stuff."

Sheik looks at Lucario out of the corner of her eye and smiles a little, even though he couldn't see it. Sheik was one of the few smashers that had managed to befriend him, that's not to say that Lucario was a jerk or anything, he just preferred to keep to himself. Truth be told, there were only a few smashers that Lucario had a hard time tolerating, but even then the Pokemon would ignore them. Only once or twice had he ever blown his top during the Brawl tournament.

Before either friend could say another word, a small pink blur barreled out of the study, pulled a right-angle turn, shot up the stairs, rounded another corner, and sped off for the gym. Not a second later, Wario sped after Kirby on his motorbike...Pit had apparently given up since he walked back into the kitchen.

Sheik and Lucario shared a laugh at Kirby's expense before Sheik excused herself to find Zelda. Lucario leaned against the railing with his back to the foyer, enjoying a small breeze from one of the AC vents. He heard the large doors open again and turned to see a most unpleasant person enter...Solid Snake. Lucario's fur angrily bristled as Snake strolled in, set his two suitcases down and signed in...that man could trod on Lucario's nerves more than _any_ Pokemon trainer could.

It wasn't like Snake had purpsoely done something to irk Lucario, in fact, he was a great ally during the Subspace incident...Lucario and Snake just didn't get along. Lucario couldn't stand Snake's love of sarcasm and crude humor, and the fact that Snake was always gruff with everyone only irritated the Aura Pokemon more. Lucario tolerated Snake as best he could, but the Pokemon didn't like him in the least.

Lucario's fur bristles some more and his muscles tense up as Snake started ascending the staircase. As the mercenary passed by, the two smashers shot one another a glare that would probably have made Lucas wet himself. Neither acknowledged the other's presence as Snake passed, not a 'hi', not a wave, not even a growl was uttered. As the mercenary left Lucario's sight, the Pokemon released a breath he didn't even know he was holding as his muscles and fur relaxed.

"Hi Lucario!"

"Holy...!" Lucario yells while leaping up to the ceiling, clinging to the wood with his aura powers. He heard laughter from down below and turned to see a blue hedgehog lying on his back, chuckling like a maniac.

Lucario growls a little while slipping down from the ceiling. "Sonic..." he growls while landing beside the hedgehog, "What's the big idea? You know I don't like getting spooked."

"Yea, I know...I just couldn't resist." Sonic says between his chuckles as he gets up and wipes a tear from his eye. "So...how have you been since Brawl?" he asks while extending a hand.

Lucario shrugs a little. "Eh, the same old, same old." he replies while shaking the offered hand. Sonic was, like Sheik, one of the few fighters to befriend Lucario. Despite the two personalities being almost totally different, they got along. No-one knew why, but they did...the two were almost like long-time friends the first moment they met.

"I should warn you Sonic, Snake has returned." Lucario said after letting go of the hedgehog's hand.

"Snake?" Sonic snorts (Snake couldn't stand Sonic and the opposite was also true), "Oh well...at least this gives us a chance to pummel him again, right?"

Lucario grins a little and nods. Sonic bids his friend good-bye while collecting the suitcase he dropped and leaving. Lucario watches his blue friend walk off and sighs. "Things are always going to be interesting when he's around..." Lucario mumbles.

Several minutes pass in silence before Lucario hears the door open again...this time the fighter on the other side wasn't one he had seen before. This fighter was about Sonic's height, had bright-red fur, some kind of white mark on his chest, and his hair was down in something that resembled dreadlocks. Even stranger was what he had with him...in one hand was a normal suitcase, but the other was holding up a jewel of an impressive size, it had to be at least as tall as the fighter.

This new fighter walks over to the terminal, logs in, and then strolls up the stairs. At first Lucario thought this new fighter was oblivious to him, since on the steps there was no sign that the newcomer noticed him...then he stopped beside Lucario and looked at the Pokemon.

"Would your name happen to be Lucario?"

Lucario raises an eyebrow, "Yes that's me."

The newcomer smirks a little before setting his suitcase down and extending a hand. "The name's Knuckles. I'm a...buddy of sorts with Sonic."

Lucario smiles slightly at the Mobian and shakes his hand, "Interesting choice of luggage."

"Oh, this thing?" Knuckles asks while looking at the large jewel in his hand, "I'd explain things to you, but first I need to meet with this...Master Hand guy."

Lucario holds back a couple chuckles while imagining the reaction Knuckles might have when he meets Master Hand, but allows the red echidna to move on.

Over the next half-an-hour, Lucario meets with several more fighters, both familiar and new. Olimar and a small crowd of his pikmin strolled by, the Ice Climbers wandered past, a Pichu scurried by, and Fox hung out for a few minutes to chat with the Pokemon before leaving to meet with Master Hand.

After Fox left, the mansion re-entered its rare state of peace...apart from the occasional noise coming from the kitchen, all was quiet. This state lasted for a few more minutes before Lucario heard the doors again...and was surprised at the newcomer on the other side...

**Oh-ho! Two chapters pass and already I've revealed a newcomer...To be honest, I probably wouldn't have updated this quickly, but I wanted to give a little something back to the fellows who gave me some ideas...and what better way than with a reveal of some of the cast? I'm not saying Knuckles' moveset, or who any of the other newcomers are until later...once the final cast has been selected.**


	3. Starting Off the Tournament

**Finally I have completed Chapter 3! I am sending an extremely big thank you to everyone who has reviewed AND suggested ideas. Seriously, if it wasn't for all of you...the cast wouldn't have grown nearly as much as it did. However, from this chapter onward...I will no longer be accepting suggestions for smashers, but I'm still accepting stage ideas (I seriously need help here, I've got only three!), assist trophies, items, and Pokeball Pokemon.**

**I'm really hoping you all will like the final cast. Enjoy the new chapter!**

Chapter 3 Starting Off the Tournament

This new fighter was a girl and she appeared to be a cat of some kind from Sonic's planet, had fur in the shade of a gentle lavender, a purple gown on, white pants and gloves, red high-heels, and a golden necklace. She was too far away for Lucario to pick out facial features, but her hair did appear to be drawn upwards. The odd thing about her wasn't how she looked, it was that she seemed...really nervous.

Her right hand was tightly holding onto her suitcase, and in her left hand was a smaller travelling bag. She kept shifting her gaze around the large foyer as though afraid that someone might be lurking around for a sneak attack. The cat shifted her bag around while walking up to the terminal and signing in.

Lucario figured that in a couple minutes the terminal would print out a map, and she'd stroll up the stairs and greet Lucario in the process...but that didn't happen. The cat hung around at the terminal for several minutes more than she should've...and after those minutes passed, Lucario could see that she was getting upset.

Without making a single sound, Lucario climbs onto the railing, springs out towards her, uses Extremespeed to finish the jump, and he silently lands behind the lavender cat. "Is something wrong?" he asks.

This was one of the times where Lucario's stealth made things worse. Hearing a voice suddenly come from behind her seemed to spook the cat as she spun around with a gasp. Finding an intimidating form standing there, and knowing that he wasn't there before scared her even more...the cat tried to back up, but her foot caught on her suitcase and she fell over.

Lucario felt a little guilty at this...he didn't mean to scare her, but he understood why she was frightened. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you..." he says while extending a hand, "...my deepest apologies."

The cat gave Lucario a little smile as she took his hand, "Its okay...suddenly being invited to a Smash Brothers tournament seemed fun, but once I saw the mansion...I just got really nervous at the thought of all the skilled fighters inside."

Lucario returned the smile as he helped her up. He was now close enough to get a good look at her face, and saw that she had amber-colored irises and a small ruby on her forehead. Lucario also saw that her gloves and socks had fuzzy cuffs instead of the smooth ones that were present on Sonic's.

"To answer your question, yes something is wrong. That terminal..." she pointed to the computer, "...told me to go to the main office, but didn't tell me how to get there."

Lucario looks at the terminal and guesses that something must've caused a paper jam, or it ran out of paper to print with. "If you want, I could show you the way to the office." he suggests.

The cat gives him another smile, collects her things, and replies, "Lead the way."

Lucario turns, guides her up the stairway, and around a couple corners before stopping outside the office doors. "Here we are. Just speak with Master Hand like you would to a friend."

She seems a little confused at what Lucario meant, but didn't ask any questions as she walked inside.

Lucario crossed his arms and leaned up against the wall beside the oak doors. He knew that Master would probably form a map for this newcomer, but he still felt like sticking around. Just why this newcomer was so interesting to him, he had no clue...but Lucario could tell that something about this cat was different from the others.

About ten minutes pass...the average time it takes for Master to explain how Super Smash works...before she comes back out. "Well? How'd it go?" Lucario asks.

"Apart from me feeling a little weird speaking with a giant hand, I suppose it went alright. Master Hand apologized for the terminal breakdown, snapped himself, and said it was fixed."

"That's good. Would you like me to show you the way to the fighter's suites?"

"Thanks, but I'm okay. Master Hand told me the way and created a map." She gestures down to her left hand where a folded piece of paper was held against her suitcase. "Oh, by the way...I'm Blaze." she politely says while extending her right hand.

"Lucario." he replies while shaking her hand gently.

"Lucario...I've heard that name before...wait a minute!" she snaps her fingers, "Now I remember! You placed third in the Brawl tournament! Just barely lost to my friend Sonic."

Lucario nods, "That's right. He got lucky with one of those infernal baseball bats. Just barely edged me out too."

Blaze chuckles a little, "Whether you won or not is besides the point. Its a pleasure to meet such an outstanding fighter and find that he's so polite."

Lucario blushes a little from the compliment, but his fur managed to hide it. "Most of the Smashers are, there's only a couple of grouches, but they're pretty easy to spot."

"Alright. See you later Lucario!" Blaze says while walking away.

"Bye!" Lucario replies before wandering off. He knew her name now, but he still couldn't tell what it was that made this cat so interesting...Lucario shrugged it off and wandered back to the foyer.

* * *

In the hallway that led to the second-floor landing, Lucario's acute hearing picked up what sounded like an argument with two distinct voices. One of them he recognized as Sonic's, but the other sounded new to him. The second voice was kinda low, kinda dark, and a little unfriendly...at first Lucario thought that maybe it was Snake who was arguing with Sonic. He didn't know how wrong he was...

As Lucario came onto the landing, he looked and saw Sonic yelling at another Mobian hedgehog. This one looked almost like an exact duplicate of Sonic, only he had black fur, different looking shoes, red highlights, and his quill-tips were bent a little.

"What's the matter Sonic?" the black hedgehog asks, "Are you afraid of losing to me here?"

"Me?! Scared of losing to a faker?!" Sonic yells, "What in the world would give you that idea?"

"Maybe the fact that you're acting like a child just at the sight of me?"

Sonic growls a little, "You wanna start something Shadow? I could easily pound you before you even knew it."

Before Shadow could respond, Lucario took a mighty leap from the landing, and touched down between the two. "No, he doesn't want to fight." Lucario says at a normal volume, but the tone was enough to keep either hedgehog from challenging him.

"You. Shadow." The Pokemon says while pointing at the black hedgehog, "Move along and meet with Master Hand. Remember, until he says so, there is to be no fighting at all."

Shadow grunts a little, but grabs his small suitcase and moves along. Sonic stands there, watching Shadow like a hawk while the black hedgehog leaves his view. He probably would've taken off after the black hedgehog, had Lucario's aura-surrounded hand not been in the way.

After Shadow leaves, Sonic takes a deep breath and turns to face his friend. "Thanks for stopping us from getting into trouble before the tournament even started." he says in a much calmer voice.

"Of course, now why were you so angry at Shadow?"

Sonic growls a little, "That hedgehog has been a rival of mine for several years. We _can_ get along, but only if the situation desperately needs it." He finishes while leering back at the stairs.

"If it helps any, I ran into a couple more of your friends."

Sonic's ears perk up as he turns back to Lucario. "Really? Who?"

"A red guy named Knuckles..."

"Ooh, Knuckles is here?" Sonic gets a mischievous grin, and begins snickering evilly.

"...and a cat named Blaze."

"Are you serious?!" Sonic asks in surprise, apparently having forgotten about Knuckles, "Blaze was actually invited?!" He leaps almost to the top of the room when Lucario nods. "Way to go Blaze!" he shouts.

Lucario raises an eyebrow curiously at this odd new behavior. Beyond the chili dogs that the chefs sometimes served, rarely did Sonic get this excited about anything.

Sonic landed, quickly said, "I've got to go find her, see ya Luc!", and tore off at near-max speed, almost running over a couple small Pokemon that just walked in.

Both of the smaller Pokemon grunt a little at the wind that Sonic caused, and one of them yelled, "Watch where you're going!" at the hedgehog in an angry voice.

Lucario turns to see a Plusle and a Minun standing there, and both looked very pissed off that they had almost been run over.

Lucario walks over to the two mice and kneels down, "Don't mind him, he just got very excited, that's all."

Plusle grunts a little. "Still doesn't give him the right to run us over." it mutters while crossing its arms.

Minun laughs nervously before turning to the larger Pokemon, "He can hold a bit of a grudge. I'm Minun, and he's my brother, Plusle."

"Lucario. Do either of you need any help?"

"Nah, we're okay." Plusle replies, "Thanks for offering though." The two mice hold out a paw which Lucario taps with his own. "Come on bro, lets go see this Master Hand fellow."

The two of them scurry away on all fours, the only luggage with them being the map that was printed out.

Before Lucario could wander off, he heard, "He-ey! Luca!" called from the study. He turned to see Falco strolling out of the room, waving a feathered hand.

"Falco!" Lucario replied while walking to and high-fiving the bird.

"Nice to see ya, how have things been? Got caught by a Pokemon trainer yet?"

Lucario scoffs, "No. There's no way I'd ever get caught by one of them, and apart from having to deal with the occasional trainer things have been fine. You?"

Falco laughs a little, "Saved the Lylat System a few times, had to deal with Slippy, Fox and Krystal are together, modified my Arwing..."

"Whoa, what was that? Fox and Krystal are together now?" Falco nods. Lucario chuckles a little, "He's one lucky Cornerian."

Falco chuckles a little himself, "He sure is. I actually think that Krystal got invited here, don't know if she accepted or not...see ya Luca, gotta go unpack before the opening announcements." Falco waves good-bye and strolls off.

Lucario continues on into the study, temporarily stopping to look around. The study was a very large room, and had three large windows that faced out to the front lawn. The windows let in a ton of sunlight, which gave the room a warm, inviting atmosphere and beautifully brought out the red of the rugs and upholstery. There were several chairs placed in various areas of the room, and backed up to the base of each window was a couch that could comfortably seat three (assuming they're all the average size...DK or Bowser could easily take one couch all for themselves).

Along the wall opposite the windows were several large bookcases, stocked with plenty of novels and other books from the various competing worlds. Opposite the doorway to the foyer, was another hallway that led to several more rooms, deeper in the mansion. To complete the atmosphere of the room, the floor was hardwood underneath the large red rug, in the middle of the bookcase wall was a fireplace, and in one of the corners was a small globe that could change itself to look like any of the planets that had a participant.

This was one of Lucario's favorite rooms to occupy when he had a lot of free time. He'd draw one of the chairs up to the fire once it got late enough, select some foreign novel, and curl up to read for a couple hours.

With nothing better to do until the opening announcements, Lucario strolled over to the bookcase that held the stories from Hyrule and pulled down a thick, hard-backed book entitled "The Creation of Hyrule", one of his favorites.

The tall Pokemon sat himself down in the couch underneath the middle window. It was afternoon so the sun wasn't streaming in, but a comfortable breeze was blowing in through the open window. He sighs as a small gust rustles the fur around the base of his neck, then opens the book and starts reading, allowing a couple hours to pass like a few minutes. Before he knew it, Master Hand's voice came out through the loudspeakers.

"_Attention everyone...I am pleased to announce that all of the fighters for the Clash tournament have arrived, so would everyone please report to the auditorium for the opening announcements._"

Lucario sighs, puts the book back where he found it, and proceeds down the second hallway of the study.

Since he was so close to the auditorium, Lucario was the first to arrive. The auditorium was a massive room, on par with the foyer. There was a large chandelier hanging from the high ceilings, at the end opposite the only door in was the stage, and most of the remainder of the floor was occupied by rows of soft cushioned chairs.

Unlike a normal auditorium, where the chair's seat cushion flipped up, these chairs kept their seat cushions down permanently. Also, despite their comfort, each chair was flame-proof (for the fire-breathers), tear-resistant, and everything else needed to keep them intact during the meetings that were held here.

Lucario seats himself in the exact center of all the chairs, leaned backwards, kicked up his feet, and waited for the others to arrive. In a couple seconds, Sonic is seated in the chair beside Lucario.

"Hello Sonic, found your friends?"

"Nope." Sonic replies, his voice carrying a slight hint of an upset tone. "Guess they've already gathered for the opening announcements." He lets a few chuckles out before continuing, "Besides, I'll meet up with 'em after this."

Over the next fifteen minutes the remaining veterans file into the auditorium, more or less gathering into the friend groups formed during the last tournament. Eventually the other thirty-something veterans have been seated and Master Hand floats out from behind the curtain and up to the microphone.

"Hello all!" He booms into the mic, "I am deeply honored to welcome back all of the amazing fighters from my Brawl tournament. I am also pleased to welcome back the top five fighters from Brawl, in fifth came Bowser."

The Koopa King grunts a little from what he considered a low rank, and accepts his applause.

"In fourth placed Link."

The Hylian merely nods, while accepting his slightly louder applause.

"Third came Lucario."

No reaction from the Pokemon to his applause.

"In second placed Sonic."

The hedgehog chuckles a little at his large amount of applause.

"And. In first place. Mario!"

The plumber blushes and laughs nervously at his incredibly large amount of applause.

"Finally, I would like to congratulate everyone here for being courageous enough to join this tournament."

Wolf stands and clears his throat, "I don't mean to interrupt Master Hand, but...where's Crazy Hand? Isn't he usually supposed to be here?"

"Yes, but...he's off on a trophy creating journey."

* * *

"Hold still...hold very still..." Crazy muttered as he floated (opened up) in the bushes. He was watching a Yellow Wollywog splash around in a small pond. Little did he know though, that a couple Dwarf Red Bulborbs where sniffing at his back end, thinking he was food.

Finally the Wollywog stops hopping around. "That's it...nice and easy..." Crazy whispers while raising his middle finger up and forming a small black light at the tip. At the same time, one of the Bulborbs opened its mouth...

The second before Crazy was going to thrust his middle finger forward the Bulborb chomped down on his back end.

"YEEEOWCH!" Crazy shrieked while hurtling up into the sky. The Wollywog, frightened by the loud noise, quickly hopped away, the Bulborb's buddies ran off, and the Bulborb that bit Crazy was clinging to the large glove's cuff for dear life with its jaws.

* * *

"Whether or not my brother is here is besides the point. It is now my pleasure to introduce the newcomers to my Clash tournament. To begin with, let's give a warm welcome to some very special fighters, those who were unable to attend Brawl for various reasons. Welcome back...Mewtwo, Pichu, and Young Link!"

At their names, three fighters came out from behind the curtain. Mewtwo was a large, purple toned Pokemon with a long, curving tail and only three fingers on each hand. Lucario had seen plenty of Pichu whilst wandering around his home planet, and Young Link looked like a hybrid of the other two Links. He was slightly taller than Toon, but looked more like normal Link than Toon.

The three returning fighters accept their applause with a bow, then disperse into the seated crowd. Pichu wanders over to Pikachu, Mewtwo finds the most isolated area for himself, and Young Link wanders over to the other Hylians.

"Now for the real newcomers. Before that, I would first like to say that I have only managed to find a few newcomers for this tournament, but I believe that they will be enough to keep things interesting! First off, she's a co-ordinator originally born in Hoenn...please welcome...our Pokemon Co-ordinator, May!"

At her name and the applause, a teenaged brunette comes out from behind the curtain. Her hair fell out to the sides of her head, and around the rest was a green bandana. She wore a sleeve-less red dress that ended several inches below her hips and like a skirt. Under that was a pair of biking shorts that were a deep blue color. Around her waist was a green hip-bag, she had on a pair of white gloves with black fingers, and a pair of red, black, and white shoes.

Following May out from behind the curtain was a Mudkip, a Grovyle, a Blaziken...all of them looking ready for the tournament. She and her Pokemon wave to the crowd before leaving the stage and sitting down beside the Pokemon Trainer, Red.

"Our next fighter is a very special guest...the princess of the twilight realm...Midna!"

A tall and slightly curvy woman walks out from behind the curtain. Her skin had various black and gray markings, there was a black dress with strange symbols on it around her waist, she had dark red eyes, long orange hair, and long cloak tied around her neck. The backside of the cloak was pure black and had various symbols printed on it that were a gray color, but the underside was an odd color that continually shifted between blue and electric green.

Midna bows politely to the applauding crowd, and seats herself with the Hylians.

"Now it is my pleasure to present...another princess...Kumatora!"

A young child comes out from back-stage, maybe about Lucas' age. She had pink hair, green eyes, a blue dress that covered all of her body and down to her feet which were in pink boots. A small gold amulet hung from her neck, and was the only accessory that she wore.

Kumatora waves a little, then claims a seat beside Lucas.

"Next is a duo of fighters...two brothers in arms and spirit...Plusle and Minun!"

The Plusle and Minun that Lucario met before come out, happily cheer, and seat themselves between Pikachu and Jigglypuff.

"Next I would like to introcue another Lylat inhabitant...a telepathic native of the planet Cerinia...Krystal!"

At her name, a very curvy female fox walks out from back-stage. She was dressed in a dark-blue and black, skin tight jumpsuit that had built in platform high-heels. She had snow-white fur, but parts of her hair were a shade of cobalt blue, and in her hands was a long, ancient looking staff. The staff appeared to be made of some kind of wood, looked like it had strange markings on it, and in its tip was a blue jewel in a gold holster.

Krystal expertly twirls the staff around in one hand and playfully winks at the crowd before she finds a seat beside Fox.

"Now may we please welcome...a very special fighter...Shadow the Hedgehog."

As Shadow walks out from back-stage, Lucario quickly grabs onto Sonic's quills to keep the blue hedgehog from starting a fight. Its not easy though...if it wasn't for the jolts of aura Lucario was shocking Sonic with, the hedgehog might've broken free.

Shadow barely waves to his applause, then teleports beside Mewtwo.

"Next is another fighter from Mobius...the last of his kind...Knuckles the Echidna!"

The red echidna comes out, waves to the crowd, then finds a seat a few chairs away from Sonic.

"Yet another fighter from Mobius...a expert jewel-hunter...Rouge the Bat!"

A very curvy bat walks on-stage, dressed in a skin-tight and rather revealing body-suit. Her clothing covered none of her arms and left her upper chest bare, but clung to the rest of her body and was black in color save the pink heart over her chest. She had on knee-high, white, high-heel boots with another pink heart over the toe area, elbow length white gloves, and plenty of make-up.

She (like Krystal) playfully winks to the crowd before taking flight and seating a row ahead of Knuckles.

"Our next fighter is a guest from the land of Sylvarant...a very skilled swordsman...Lloyd Irving!"

At his name, a tall teenager comes on-stage. He has brown hair, brown eyes, some sort of red suit and jeans on, and red boots. In each hand rested a sword...the one in his left had a faint orange glow and the right had a faint blue one.

He twirls his swords and expertly sheathes them before seating himself near Marth and Ike.

"Another fighter has come to us from the land of Sylvarant...in fact she actually saved that land...Colette Brunel!"

This time a girl walks on-stage. She seemed maybe a year younger than Lloyd, but was still a teen. She had long blonde hair, soft-tined sky blue eyes, a sort of white dress that stopped just above her knees, a white vest on over that, and white boots. Clasped around her neck was a golden band, and a large red jewel hung from another, slightly thinner gold band. The only odd thing about her was her weapons...they were two rings with a handle through the middle.

Colette smiles and blushes a little at her applause, then seats herself beside Lloyd.

"Next we have a fighter from Tellius...a spell-caster...Soren!"

A young man comes out from behind the curtain with a serious look on his face. He had long black hair, a strange red symbol on his forehead, and dull red irises. He had on some dark colored robes and a cloak on, a loose belt, and in his arms was a thick book.

Soren manages a small wave to the crowd, then seats himself beside Ike.

"Now I have reached the last three fighters, but they should by no means be considered the weakest of the newcomers. In fact, they should give some of you elite veterans a run for your money. First off is our last Mobian...and a princess no less...Blaze the Cat."

Blaze walks on-stage, now looking a lot more confident. She politely bows to the appluading crowd, and finds her seat beside Sonic. The two high-five one another before turning their attention back to the stage.

"Our next fighter is from a war-torn world that is called Neo-Earth. She is excellent in combat and should give all of her opponents a tough fight...please welcome...Aile!"

Another teen appears, but unlike the last ones she was older and...maturer. She was tall and had brown hair and green eyes. Her body was completely covered in a skin-tight jumpsuit, over which was a pair of tan-colored cargo shorts, a deep-blue mini-vest that seemed a little strained against the chest, and two large, gold colored bracelets were strapped to her wrists. Her feet were in a pair of deep-blue shoes, another bracelet pair was clasped above her ankles, and sitting in a holster on her right hip was a laser pistol.

Aile winks and gives a thumbs-up before seating herself a couple seats from Lucario's left (Sonic and the others were on his right).

"And now, our last newcomer...from the same planet as Aile comes another strong teen...please welcome...Ashe!"

Out walks another teen, roughly a year or two younger than Aile, but she still had a good curving figure to her. Ashe had really long, ice-blue hair that was drawn back into a ponytail, a little bit of her hair fell to the sides of her face, and she had green eyes. Like Aile, Ashe wore a skin-tight jumpsuit, but only wore an orange mini-jacket over her chest (like Aile's, Ashe's seemed a little tight) and a brown belt that had another laser pistol in its holster. She had on fingerless gloves, and some orange and white high-heels.

Ashe does the same as Aile before sitting beside the other teen.

"Good, now that the introduction for the newcomers is out of the way, we can get on to the main event...the opening match!" Master yells, a little too excitedly. "Like I have done since Melee, one unofficial match we be held between a newcomer and a veteran to show the newcomers just what Super Smash is all about. Don't worry, this match won't be broadcast to anyone except the other smashers, and there are absolutely no special things attached. Now let us pick the newcomer!"

Master points upward at a large, descending TV screen that had to be at least fifteen feet diagonally. The screen was blank, but suddenly it burst forth into color as pictures of all the newcomers went hurtling by, each time with a small 'ding' noise.

Slowly the pictures begin to slow down...at first it shows Mewtwo, then changes to Pichu, then becomes Krystal, before finally stopping on...

"Our newcomer will be Blaze!" Master announces. "And our veteran shall be?"

To make a long story short(er), the veteran chosen was...

"Lucario!" Master booms.

The two chosen fighters walk up on-stage and face Master Hand. "Now listen you two, this is going to be the simplest of all fights. You will be fighting on Battlefield, with the only functioning item being the Smash Ball, and it will be a two-stock match. That is, once one of you is knocked out of bounds twice, that fighter loses. Understood?" Both nod, "Excellent!" Master exclaims while snapping himself.

With a bright flash of light, Lucario and Blaze were teleported to the Battlefield stage. The stage itself was almost as simple as they came. There were only three levels to it, a long thick platform formed the lowest level, the second level was composed of two thin platforms floating above the lower level, one at each end. The final level was a single, thin platform that floated higher than the others. (**A/N When I call a platform thick, that means the smashers can't pass through it. A thin platform they can jump and fall through.**)

A bluish-black light pulse comes from the right platform and out of it emerges Lucario. A fireball forms on the left platform and Blaze can be seen standing within it as the fire burns out. All of the other smashers are watching the fight on the large TV screen, which is also showing each of the fighter's current status on the bottom of the screen (A small picture of them, their damage percent, and current stock count).

"Fight at your max Blaze. Remember, we can't get hurt on these stages." Lucario says to her from across the stage.

"Don't worry Lucario. I will."

_3!_ A male computerized voice yells.

_2!_

_1!_

_FIGHT!_

**Well? What do you think of the newcomers? I did the best I could do and I'm very sorry if one of your suggestions didn't make it. I know that my choices seemed a little lopsided, but there wasn't that many other places to draw ideas from. The fight itself will come in as the next chapter, I hope that it'll please all of you! Oh, and some of the newcomers were completely unknown to me before this...so if they aren't acting the way they should or I described them wrong...please tell me.**


	4. Fire vs Aura

**Behold! My first shot at writing a Smash Bros fight scene! Okay, so the fight takes up about half of this chapter...but it is really good. What I've decided to do whenever there is a fight that takes up a chapter and includes a newcomer(s), I'll put that newcomer's moveset up on my profile page.**

**So now, without any further trouble...I present the match between Lucario and Blaze!**

Chapter 4 Fire vs. Aura

As soon as the word, 'fight' was yelled Blaze leapt toward Lucario with a her fist out for a punch. Lucario easily dodged by ducking down through the platform, then countered by releasing an aura wave upwards.

Blaze was thrown upwards by the attack and as she came down, Lucario jumped up and struck her with another aura wave, knocking her back skywards. She started to plummet again, and Lucario began to jump back up...but unlike last time, Blaze surrounded herself in flames and dove downwards, slamming into Lucario and knocking him off to the left. She landed gracefully on the right platform while Lucario lands on the left one.

"Impressive pyrokinesis." Lucario compliments, "Much stronger than some of the other smashers."

"Thanks." She replies before performing another Flame Accel at Lucario. This time he managed to pull off a move of his own.

As Blaze's attack made contact with Lucario, she simply passed right through him. Her flames died away, but before she could even look around, Lucario came in from behind with a sneak attack thanks to Double Team. Blaze lets out a gasp as Lucario lands a powerful kick to her back, and nearly throws her from the stage. Luckily, she doesn't fall, but is really close to the edge.

Lucario smirks a little as he jumps down to her level. "Don't be too upset...I did place third in the Brawl tournament."

"Who said I'm out yet?" Blaze asks. Before Lucario could react, Blaze leaps backward, and lands several hard kicks with the point of her high-heels onto Lucario's chest. The Pokemon is forced to back away as Blaze lands on her feet and stands up.

Lucario readied himself for another fast attack, but it didn't come. Instead of attacking, Blaze simply raised her closed fists in front of her and shut her eyes. Wanting to be prepared, Lucario raises his hands behind him and begins forming an Aura Sphere.

A few seconds pass before Blaze lowers her hands and Lucario absorbs his Aura Sphere. The two have a two second stare-down before Lucario jumps up to the right platform. Determined to not let him out of her sight, Blaze jumps up a platform as well...right into Lucario's trap.

As soon as Lucario saw Blaze start to come up through the platform, he threw his Aura Sphere. Blaze couldn't do anything to try and dodge it...the sphere was moving too fast and was too close. The basketball sized orb nails Blaze right in the face and knocks her over the side of the stage. Before she could fall and lose a stock though, she surrounded herself in flames again and shot upward.

Blaze flies up past the edge of the stage, lets her fire die away and lands by the edge on both feet. Lucario fell down from his platform and began charging at Blaze...but he ran right into a large fireball that Blaze threw at him.

The Pokemon is thrown backwards and lands on his back at the edge of the stage. His eyes were shut from the impact of the fireball, but he opened them he saw Blaze plummeting down at him...one of her legs stretched out for the spike to hit.

He gasps and quickly rolls out of the way...allowing Blaze to stomp the ground instead of his head. Before she could use another attack, Lucario pulled her to his left hand with his aura power, then slammed her hard with his Force Palm.

This time Blaze does lose a stock, as she crosses the right border. Lucario manages to barely catch his breath before Blaze leaves the revival panel and flies at Lucario with a smaller wall of flames in front of her. Lucario tries to pull off another Double Team, but Blaze reaches him too quickly and sends Lucario flying away.

He manages to use his mid-air jump to redirect himself, then uses Extremespeed to fly past Blaze and land in the middle of the stage. Blaze runs up from behind and throws a punch, but Lucario sidesteps out of the way and lands a punch of his own to her back.

As Blaze slides on the ground a little, the lighting of the stage suddenly flashes, then darkens as an orb appears in the air and begins floating around, glowing in a rainbow of colors...a Smash Ball.

Lucario jumps up to the uppermost platform, then springs into the air again for the Smash Ball. He throws a punch that weakens the ball, but doesn't break it. He sent the ball falling towards Blaze, who swung her leg around and hit the ball with a kick.

She didn't break it either, but the ball did fly back at Lucario. He slammed it with his Force Palm and this time it finally broke, surrounding Lucario's body with a rainbow aura and making his eyes glow gold.

"Sorry Blaze, but the end of the match has come...watch the power of aura!" He yells before leaping up into the sky.

The aura around him is absorbed into his body, a bright flash appears in his palms as he brings his hands together over his head, then thrusts them downwards...releasing an enormous laser beam of pure aura. Blaze manages to evade the Aura Storm for a few seconds, but is eventually caught in the laser blast.

Her damage level increases tremendously, but the attack ends before it could do enough damage to throw her off the stage. Lucario gently lands on the upper platform and slips through to land on the main level and is surprised. Blaze had landed on her feet, but that wasn't what surprised him...swirling around each of her hands was a fireball with several smaller embers orbiting around it.

_Those weren't there before..._Lucario thinks while looking at the fireballs, _I'm sure of that. And they couldn't be from an attack, she hasn't had time to charge one..._

Lucario wasn't able to ponder the mysterious fireballs for long, Blaze quickly leapt forward and threw a punch that nailed Lucario in the shoulder. He gasped a little from both the force of the punch and from the burning sensation that accompanied it.

As he flies backward Blaze lunges forward again in a Flame Accel. Her fireball slams into Lucario and sends the Pokemon flying away over the right boundary.

Blaze begins prepping another one of her fireballs while Lucario comes back on the revival pad. She just barely manages to store it before Lucario falls down from the upper platform and charges at her. Blaze sidesteps out of the way and then nails him in the back with a kick.

The two continue their scuffle for a couple minutes, most of the time their attacks miss, but occasionally one will land a hard hit on the other. Finally, after five minutes pass, the two stop their scuffle and engage in a stare-down...Lucario on the left side of the stage and Blaze (who was panting slightly) on the right.

"You're a pretty good fighter." Lucario says.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself. Of course, you didn't place third in the last tournament for nothing." Blaze replies.

Before Lucario could respond, the lighting flashes again and another Smash ball appears.

Both Lucario and Blaze quickly jump for it, but Blaze pulls off her Fire Accel and rams into the ball. The attack only manages to damage the ball, but she does knock the powerful object away from Lucario's reach.

As the ball slowly drifts to a stop high over the left platform, the two smashers land...Lucario on the left platform, Blaze on the center one. Both jump back for the ball and both try to attack it, but the ball lazily floats just out of range...almost like it was taunting them.

Lucario and Blaze land again and watch the ball slowly floats down to their level. Blaze throws a small fireball at it while Lucario jumps and uses one of his aerial moves. Just when the attack are about to hit, the ball quickly shoots downwards, causing the two attack to hit the other smasher. Blaze's attack barely pushes Lucario away, but Lucario's sends Blaze for a free flight to the upper right corner.

Lucario lands just as the Smash Ball drifts back up towards him. He quickly slams it with a Force Palm, but is surprised when it flies away...then frightened when it floats right up beside Blaze. The lavender cat doesn't hesitate, she takes the opportunity to roundhouse kick the ball...and it finally breaks, bathing her body in its rainbow aura.

_Wow_...she thinks while descending back onto her feet as her eyes turn a shade of gold_...I've only felt a power like this when I use the Sol Emeralds...better use it well..._

Blaze begins charging at Lucario, but stops in the middle of the stage and triggers her own final smash...Ultimate Inferno.

Blaze triggered it in mid-jump, so her body was floating there while her attack went off. She pulled her arms and legs in while flames began to spin around her. "Haaa..." she drones while being sealed within a large fireball composed of swirling red and white flames. Despite this final smash's probable strength, it was oddly beautiful to watch.

"AH!" she yells while shooting her arms and legs away from her, forcing the fireball to begin rapidly expanding and swallowing the stage. (Think ten Smart Bomb explosions fused into one.)

Lucario managed to leap away to the left edge of the stage, and balanced there while watching the supernova expand toward him. A couple seconds pass before Lucario notices something...he wasn't at the edge of the stage anymore, suddenly he was face to face with the edge of the explosion. The final smash had drawn him in.

Before Lucario could do anything to get away, he was caught in the fireball, and his damage meter was climbing faster than any of the spectators could imagine. Before the attack his percentage was roughly 60...two seconds after being caught in the ball, it was over 150.

Finally the attack ends. As Blaze's excess power fades away, she quickly draws her arms back in then thrusts them out to make the fireball explode. Lucario was hurtled high above the stage and flung far into the background. Blaze won.

* * *

Master Hand snapped himself and the two fighters re-appeared on stage in front of everyone. All of the other Smashers were cheering and whistling and yelling their congrats to the two fighters.

"Congratulations Blaze! You have won the first official match of the Super Smash Bros Clash tournament!" Master yells.

"Thanks but..." She rests a hand on her stomach, "I'm not feeling that good."

Lucario looks at Blaze with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "What do you mean? The fights are designed to keep us from getting hurt." he states.

"I know, and I'm not hurt...I just..." she abruptly ends while clasping a hand to her mouth and hurrying back behind the red curtain. A second passes and some rather unpleasant sounds are heard from behind the curtain, causing some of the smashers to cringe.

Once the sounds stop, Lucario ventures backstage and returns with Blaze lying in his arms.

"Is she okay?" Sonic asks while speeding up on-stage.

"She is." Lucario replies while looking down at Blaze. "Its just...you know."

Sonic silently nods, "You need help getting her back to her room?"

"Only if you know where her room is."

"Room 15." Master replies, "I'll send for Doc once the mess is cleaned up."

Lucario nods and silently leaves with Sonic in tow. The other smashers slowly filter out of the auditorium and Master Hand slips backstage to deal with the...mess.

* * *

Lucario and Sonic reach Blaze's room in a couple minutes. She weakly pulls the room key out of her pocket and hands it to Sonic. The hedgehog unlocks and opens the door, then stands aside to let Lucario in first.

The Pokemon gently sets Blaze down on the bed and Sonic draws a blanket over her. "Blaze?" He asks softly, "You okay?"

Blaze groans a little and replies, "Not really...my body aches and my stomach doesn't feel so good. What happened?"

"Smash Sickness." Lucario replies.

"Smash what?"

"Smash Sickness." Sonic repeats, "Its a term Doc created to describe the effects felt after a newcomer uses the Smash Ball for the first time. That ball floods your body with an almost unimaginable amount of power, but when you trigger your Final Smash, all of that power is suddenly drained away. That sudden surge, then drop of power puts a new kind of stress on a Smasher's body. You can feel achy, slight pain, drowsy, weak, and sometimes..."

"Hurl?" Blaze finishes. The other two nod.

"The effects aren't permanent, and the more you use a Smash Ball, the better your system can cope with it." Lucario states. "Don't be too embarrassed, all of the smashers from the Brawl tournament experienced some level of Smash Sickness, and all of the newcomers are going to have to deal with it as well. The best way to recover from Smash Sickness is to rest...chances are that you'll be back on your feet in no time. You shouldn't miss the start-of-season feast."

Sonic licked his lips at that last sentence, "Mmm, the feast...I completely forgot about it. Kirby and Wario had better not hog the chili dogs like they did last time..."

"You didn't have to attack Sonic, a simple threat probably would've worked just as well." Lucario says while rolling his eyes.

"Hey. They had it coming and I did ask politely," Sonic pauses, "...and it wasn't like I hurt them too badly."

"You roundhouse kicked Wario in the head."

"Yea, but I didn't attack Kirby now did I?"

"After you ambushed Wario, Kirby got so scared he gave up the chili dogs."

"My point exactly! I only attacked Wario! Don't tell me you didn't want to, I saw the way that you were glaring daggers at him for keeping the Oran Berry dinner rolls all to himself."

"_I_ threw him in front of the karts on the Mario Circuit stage the day _after _he was let out of the clinic for the concussion _you_ gave him."

Sonic rolls his eyes, while Blaze chuckles a little at the conversation. Finally she speaks up, "Alright, both of you, out. I need to rest."

Both boys walk towards the door after a friendly goodbye. The last thing Blaze saw of them for a few hours was Lucario's long tail disappearing around the door. The last thing she heard though, was...

"I seriously gave Wario a concussion? Cool."

Blaze chuckles a little bit more before shutting her eyes. _This is going to be very different than what I'm used too..._

* * *

Dr. Mario (Doc) came by about fifteen minutes after Sonic and Lucario left, greeted Blaze, and gave her a little medicine that stopped the aches. She felt better almost immediately after swallowing the pill, got up, thanked Doc, then left to go memorize the mansion's layout. A couple hours pass before Master Hand announces the feast, and the feline changes her path to head to the dining room.

The dining room was a pretty nice room, hardwood floors for easier cleaning, gentle tube lights clasped to the walls lit the room, a couple plants sat on some tables off in the corner, and on the wall leading to the kitchen was a large window that acted like a buffet during normal meals. Normally there would've been several smaller tables scattered across the large room, but for special events, like tonight, a single long table stretched across the entire room's length and on sat nearly all of the most gourmet of foods from every participating world...and several less-gourmet foods that happened to be a favorite food of a smasher.

The start-of-season feast passed by uneventfully...apparently Wario learned his lesson last year and didn't go near the plate of chili dogs. All of the smashers ate their fill (save ROB who needed no food) and then began dispersing back to their rooms for the night. Lucario was one of the last to leave, since he hung around to help clear the table, but as he started to walk away, Master stopped him.

"Excuse me Lucario, but may I have a word with you?" The large right hand asked.

"Sure, I'm not in the middle of anything." He replies.

"I wanted to speak with you about Blaze...you see, you and her are similar."

Lucario tilts his head a little and looks skeptical, "I don't follow. I'm an aura-controlling canine Pokemon, and she is a pyrokinetic feline Mobian...I don't see any similarities."

"I don't mean those kinds of similarities, I mean you and her have similar abilities in the matches. You remember that you have the aura ability?"

Lucario nods, "The higher my damage percent goes, the stronger my attacks get."

"Correct. Blaze has an identical ability."

_Guess that explains those mystery fireballs..._Lucario thinks before responding with, "Okay...but why are you telling me this?"

"You have no trouble with your aura ability. You use it all the time, and have had a season to practice with it. Blaze is new to this and she might not even know that she actually has this ability. I'd like you to help her master that ability, okay?"

"I suppose..." Lucario answers, his voice's tone suggesting a little uneasiness.

"I'm not telling you to make her train all day or force her to push herself beyond her limits...but if it looks like she needs help or is having trouble, give her some adivce and a little friendly encouragement."

"Alright." Lucario replies after a deep breath.

Master nods (as much as a glove can) and floats off. Lucario, however, remains rooted to his spot...only turning his head to look over at Blaze.

The feline princess was busy chatting with two other princesses, Peach and Zelda, and her back was turned to him. _Eh, I can talk with her tomorrow..._he thinks before leaving for bed.

**So how was the fight? What about the other half? I'm not sure why, but it feels like a small something is missing in this chapter...oh well.**


	5. Forming a Friendship

Chapter 5 Forming a Friendship

The sun slowly began creeping up over the eastern horizon, allowing its morning rays to shine on the Smash Mansion and warm up the grounds. None of the natural sunlight got into the smashers' rooms, since there were no windows, but the lights in the rooms replicated sunlight perfectly and automatically changed to match the sunlight levels outside.

The only smasher that actually woke up from this was Lucario, all of the others kept their lights on 'Non-Sunlight' mode and left them off. Lucario sighed contently as the fake sunlight woke him, silently rose and checked the time.

_Hmm...7:25 huh?_ The Pokemon smiles a little, _I've got time._

Lucario silently leaves his room, locks the door, and heads upstairs. He quietly walks through the third floor, and ascends the stairway onto the roof. The Pokemon reclines against the small shack that covered the stairway, basking in the warmth of real sunlight. Early morning tended to be one of his favorite times...things were quiet, peaceful, and calm...a very rare thing considering where he was.

He soaks in as much sunlight as he could in the next couple of minutes before getting up and heading downstairs. 7:30 was (roughly) when the breakfast bar opened, and Lucario made a habit of getting up early to beat the three gluttons there, and the only other people awake would be the main chefs; Pit and Toon.

As Lucario walks into the dining room, the room lay empty, but the chefs could be seen finishing up breakfast in the kitchen. There were already biscuits and rolls sitting in the buffet, but the remainder was still in the kitchen.

"Do you need any help?" Lucario asks through the window.

Pit turns toward the Pokemon, "No thanks. I managed to get a couple of the ROB staff to help out. If you want breakfast, it'll be ready in a few minutes."

Lucario shrugs and sits down at a nearby table. He let his mind wander back to what Master told him last night, and began trying to think of some way to accomplish it. The tough part was...he wasn't exactly a 'people-Pokemon'. He did have friends, but it wasn't like he sought them out...they just sort of, drifted to him.

Sheik he became friends with after a couple friendly brawls, Sonic from teaming up to prank the others, and Falco because...Lucario didn't know why, they just got along like old pals. Mew easily became friends with everyone, and it helped that they had known about one another for awhile.

But each of those times, it was the other person(or various species) that came to him and proposed a friendship...now he had to reverse it.

Lucario was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the clicking sound of shoes on the tile floor of the foyer. He didn't even look up when someone entered the room...at least not until that someone said, "Hey Lucario!"

The Pokemon whipped around to see Blaze standing there. "Oh, good morning Blaze. I didn't hear you come in." he politely says while standing and bowing.

Blaze giggles a little at the Pokemon's politeness, "You don't need to bow Lucario. Its alright."

Lucario nods to show that he understands, "May I ask what you are doing up so early? I thought I was the only one who did that."

"Peach and Zelda warned me that Kirby sometimes gets into kitchen...I wanted to make sure that I got breakfast on my first day."

Lucario smiles a little, "Its true, sometimes the little puffball does get into the kitchen...but he's probably still full from all the food he ate last night. Really big meals usually keep him quiet for at least a day."

Blaze returns the smile and sits down beside the tall Pokemon to wait with him. After roughly a minute passes, she speaks up, "Thank you for what you did yesterday...I really appreciated that."

"You're welcome, I remember what Smash Sickness was like and couldn't just leave you. Not a very pleasant experience is it?"

Blaze shakes her head, "Can I ask for a favor?"

"Anything."

"I was wondering if maybe you'd show me around a little. Exploring on my own was alright, but it helps if someone explains things to me."

"Sure, but why not ask Sonic?"

Blaze rolls her eyes, "With Shadow around, I doubt Sonic will be in a good mood...and it really isn't enjoyable being around a cranky Sonic."

"Alright Blaze, is after breakfast a good time?"

"Yea. Thanks."

"No problem at all."

"Oy!" Toon yells through the window, "You two! Breakfast is ready! Get it while its hot!"

Lucario and Blaze stand and help themselves to the fresh breakfast. Pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, it was all there and sitting at the end of the buffet line were several large pitchers that held various juices, milk, or water.

Once the two sit down, the other smashers begin filing in, either one at a time or in a small group. First to enter was Luigi, half an eye open to see where he was going and his green hat replaced with a green sleeping cap (the rest of his outfit was normal though). DK and Diddy wandered in next, and like Luigi they had sleeping caps on, only a bright yellow instead of dark green.

Blaze and Lucario are (not surprisingly) the first ones to finish breakfast, and it was as they were leaving that Kirby wandered in, a Santa-hat on that rivaled Peach's dress in pinkness.

"So, where to first? I'll take you wherever." Lucario asks.

Blaze shrugs, "I don't care, whichever rooms are important to know about."

"Only one choice than." Lucario syas before leading Blaze up the grand staircase and down the hallway opposite the one that led to the suites. A short ways down that hallway was a door that looked like it was made of wood, but there wasn't any visible door-knob. "Here we are. Arguably the most important room in the whole manor."

"Which is?" Blaze asks curiously.

Lucario smirks and walks toward the door, which surprsies Blaze when it suddenly slides away. "The Brawl Room." he replies while walking in, the lavender cat shortly behind him.

Unlike the other rooms Blaze had been to, which seemed appropriate for a mansion, the Brawl Room looked like something out of a state-of-the-art science facility. The floor was pure white tile and the walls and ceiling were steel, but they weren't an eyesore somehow. Against the left wall was a computer terminal, but it what was at the back of the room that intrigued Blaze the most. On the floor were four circular panels that held three glowing rings in a bulls-eye fashion. There was a small railing that was around maybe 80 percent of each panel, and in the middle of each railing was a button. The oddest thing of this whole set-up was the strange pillar of light that went left to right along the back wall.

Lucario holds back a few laughs at Blaze's confused expression and asks, "Explanation?"

She nods.

"This is the Brawl Room, where the smashers come to participate in their fights. That terminal," he gestures to the computer, "...is where the stage and items are selected. Once that is done, the smashers then step onto the panels," he points at one of the panels, "...and press the button to show they are here. Once all the fighters have gathered, they're sent into the battlefield that was picked."

"What do you mean sent?"

"The smasher is digitally captured and sent into the virtual stage they picked. That's how we can get hit by explosions, swords, and what-not and still be alive. While the system does yield physical invulnerability, its still you fighting...which means you can still get tired, sore, confused, and everything else."

"So when we fought yesterday...we were fighting in a computer?"

Lucario shrugs, "More or less. All official fights are held within the Smash System, and it is that same system that we use for the training and the stadium challenges. If you're wondering about that light, Master refuses to tell us what it is."

"Alright, can you show me this stadium thing you mentioned?" Lucario smiles and leads her out of the room, down the hall a little further, and stops in front of another knob-less door. The only difference was that this one had a TV screen in the wall beside it.

Again the door slides open, and Lucario leads Blaze into a clone of the Brawl Room, except that this one had only two panels on the back wall.

"This is the Stadium Room. It works exactly like the Brawl Room, only instead of choosing stages, you choose different events to challenge yourself. The highest scores for each event are visible on the screen outside."

"May I give this a try?"

"Sure. Allow me to set it up." Lucario replies while strolling over to the computer. As he approached, a large holographic screen appeared in midair in front of him. There were four panels on that hologram that said a different challenge: Target Smash, Home-Run Contest, Multi-Man Clash, and (this panel was new) Subspace Challenge.

Lucario tapped the Multi-Man Clash panel, and this brought up seven new panels: 10-Man, 100-Man, 3-Minute, 15-Minute, Endless, Cruel, and Back.

"Alright Blaze, just destroy the ten enemies as fast as possible. Okay?"

Blaze nods and stands on one of the panels. Lucario tapped the 10-Man panel, and a computerized voice said, "Please sign-in." Blaze took that as her cue to press the button on the railing. After she did so, the voice now said, "Beginning 10-Man challenge."

The three rings beneath her began to glow, then a ray of light shone up from the panel, engulfed Blaze, and disappeared, leaving her nowhere to be seen.

* * *

All that Blaze saw was a wall of light come up from beneath her and as it disappeared above her, the Stadium Room was replaced with the Battlefield stage. Apart from that, the only noticeable thing was that her body felt warm for about two seconds as the light passed by, than everything went normal again.

She heard that computer voice do its countdown and yell _FIGHT!_, then a weird...thing...fell in front of her. It resembled a human, but seemed kinda short. Instead of a face, the thing has a glowing orb, which was present wherever a joint was supposed to be, it had horns, and its skin looked like it was made of yellow metal.

The thing ran at her and tried to land a punch, but Blaze quickly grabbed its arm, spun around and threw it away. Whatever it was must've been really light be cause it went far, clear over the right boundary...and she didn't even put that much strength into her throw.

As she watched the little yellow thing explode, another thing dropped down in front of her. It resembled the yellow one, but was green and took on a Kirby-like shape.

This one she didn't even allow an attack, Blaze charged at it with her Blaze Ram and sent it flying. Now two more things dropped in, one red and one blue. These resembled humans, the red being a male and the blue one a female. Like before, Blaze used her Blaze Ram and destroyed both instantly.

Another red, green, and yellow fell in, and those three were KO'ed with a couple kicks. A third yellow came in with a blue, and both were destroyed with a Flame Accel. A couple seconds of peace passed by, then Blaze heard opponent number ten land. She spun towards it, but was shocked to see that this wasn't another metal-enemy...it was Blaze.

This fake Blaze wasn't colored like her, and probably could've been called her dark-half. Instead of a lavender robe she wore a pitch-black one, her fur was noticeably darker, and the pants and gloves had turned a shade of gray.

Fake-Blaze smirked and charged at the real one with a Blaze Ram. Real-Blaze jumped over the fake one, and kicked her in the back. The fake skidded a ways, and as it got up, the real one slammed her another kick...launching the fake over the edge of the left boundary and ending the challenge.

The light passed over her, and this time the Stadium Room returned to view as Battlefield disappeared. Lucario was over by the computer, and he had a pleased look on his face. "Very nice Blaze. 35 seconds...right about the average mark."

"What were those things?"

"Those are called Alloys, and are named for whatever color they are. That fake-Blaze you fought was a computer-generated enemy...pretty realistic though, isn't it?"

"You've got that right...it felt so weird to nail myself with a kick."

Lucario shrugs, "Eh, you'll get used to it with a couple of these challenges. Care to continue our tour?"

* * *

Over the next hour, Lucario showed Blaze around the mansion, covering the place from top to bottom. Lunch was served, and afterwards an announcement came through the loudspeakers.

"_Attention everyone. I have decided on the remaining matches to introduce the newcomers to Super Smash Bros. These matches will take place over the remainder of the day and possibly tomorrow. Like with the introduction match, the format will be two stock, but items are on and the stage won't be as simple as Battlefield. All of the preparations for each match are taken care of, so the smashers merely have to report to the Brawl Room and log in. The first of these matchs shall be..._" Master makes a dramatic pause, but more than likely it was only to catch his breath, "_Snake versus Rouge! Anyone who wishes to watch this battle can head to the living room. Will the two fighters please report to the Brawl Room now._"

While everyone else filters out of the kitchen and heads for the living room, Snake ascends the staircase while Rouge flies up.

The two head down the hallway, enter the Brawl Room, and stand on the panels. "You ready to lose, bat? I'm one of the toughest here." Snake asks, trying to intimidate Rouge a little.

Rouge scoffs, "Oh please, tricking that hot-headed echidna is tougher than you." she replies while pressing the log-in button.

Snake grunts a little. He didn't know how hard it was to trick Knuckles, but judging by her tone...that was an insult she just gave him. He presses his button, triggering the match.

"_All fighters have arrived...now activating Smash System._"

A bright light rises up from the panels, and takes the two fighters with it as it disappears. The stage Master Hand chose was Shadow Moses Island...Snake's home-turf. The stage was composed of solid ground at the bottom, two towers, a platform about midway from ground and sky, and two smaller platforms that were about midway between that one.

A crackling noise is heard, and slowly a crouching-invisible Snake becomes visible and stands up, being brought in on the right half of the upper platform. Rouge flies to the left corner on the ground, does a backflip, and lands on her feet.

_3!_

_2!_

_1!_

_FIGHT!_

**Okay, first off...thanks to those of you who have given suggestions for fights, I'll try to implement as many as I can. Second, the main purpose of this chapter was to introduce how the fights are started in this version of the Smash Mansion. Trust me...this Smash System idea is going to be pretty important for later chapters...**


	6. Spy vs Mercenary

**Just a warning to anyone who is a Snake fan...he gets hurt pretty badly in this chapter, so be prepared.**

Chapter 6 Spy vs Mercenary

Right as the match started, Rouge leapt up towards Snake while he fell down through the platform. Before Rouge could attack, Snake brought his foot down and drop-kicked her...launching the bat down into the ground.

As Rouge sprawled out on the ground from the strength of Snake's kick, he landed nearby and pulled a grenade off his belt. He pulled out the pin and tossed it to Rouge, who caught it as she stood up. Suddenly realizing what it was, Rouge hurled it back at Snake, but the grenade exploded between them and caused no damage...directly.

Snake' view of Rouge was blocked by the smoke, and as it cleared, a strange wave of black energy flew out of it at him. Caught off guard, Snake was hit and slammed into the right tower.

"You like my Black Wave attack?" Rouge asks in a slightly taunting tone. Before Snake could answer, Rouge rushed at him, and knocked him up into the air with a kick. Then, with a mighty flap of her wings, launched herself after him.

In midair, the bat brought the heel of her boot around to try and kick Snake, but the mercenary blocked it with his hand, then countered with a punch. He managed to land upright, and Rouge looked like she was going to crash, but cushioned her fall with another wing-beat.

Unfortunately, her back was to Snake, and turning around revealed a small missile flying towards her. With no time to react, the missile exploded on Rouge, and knocked her into the left tower.

"How do you like my Remote Missile?" Snake asks, mimicking her earlier tone. Like she did to him, Snake ran towards her and thrust his shoulder out for a tackle. This time though, Rouge leapt out of the way, causing him to collide with the tower.

Rouge whistled to get Snake attention, and as he turned around all he saw was this big spinning object come flying towards him. Rouge collided with Snake, drilling him into the tower with her Screw Kick. He couldn't hold back the grunts of pain, after all...it was the points of her boots that were drilling into his gut.

The attack ended and Rouge landed in front of Snake, but the mercenary was too slow to dodge her next attack. Rouge brought her foot up and slammed it into Snake's jaw, catapulting him high into the air and off across the horizon.

A second passed and she heard him land from the revival pad. Rouge spun around and used her Black Wave attack again, but he wasn't there. Without warning, Snake dropped down from above and hit Rouge so hard she fell through the two platforms beneath and crashed into the ground again, face-down.

As she lifted her head and opened her eyes, an odd item lay in front of her. It was a capsule. Rouge got up, saw Snake come down several feet away, and didn't hesitate...she quickly grabbed the capsule and chucked it at Snake.

The capsule pegged him in the head, but released a smaller item that landed in his hand. Snake smirked at what it was and quickly hurled it back at Rouge. The item was so small that Rouge couldn't see it in the dim lighting...all that she felt was a small something peg her in the head, but shortly afterward came a loud bang and a bright flash of light.

The light wasn't so bad, but the bang...that was what hurt. She screamed a little from the pain in her ears and clasped her hand over them.

"What was that?!" She yelled.

"That was a Deku Nut. They emit a bright flash when popped open and also cause a loud bang." Snake says with a little cockiness in his voice.

All Rouge could do in reply was groan. That bang was like having someone pop a balloon right next to her eardrums and they were ringing so loudly that she barely heard what he said. It probably didn't help that she was a bat and had naturally more sensitive hearing than he did.

Taking advantage of this, Snake ran over, pulled a small device out of his pocket and set it Rouge's feet...the bat didn't even notice, her eyes where shut from the ear pain. Snake retreated to a safe distance, and pressed a button on another device, which caused an explosion underneath Rouge and catapulted her upwards.

As he watched her fly skyward, Snake let a rare smile creep over his face and mumbled, "I love C4." before following with his Cypher.

He flew up next to Rouge, and would've kicked her away, but the stage's lighting dimmed and a Smash Ball down below caught his attention. Snake let go of the Cypher, and fell...then jutted his legs out and tried to crush the Smash Ball between the platform and him. It worked...the ball shattered and Snake was surrounded in its power.

Rouge somehow managed to land on her feet, and gasped when she Snake with the Smash Ball. "See ya bat." he mumbled before crouching down and tapping a small device in his ear. He then yelled, "It's showtime!" before flying away.

Rouge looked around in confusion, then (through the ringing) heard a helicopter. She turned and looked to see a large helicopter flying nearby, a rope ladder hanging beneath it, Snake on the rope ladder, and in his hands was...a grenade launcher.

Rouge freaked and began running all around the stage, barely dodging the grenade explosions that were right behind her. After six such explosions, they seemed to stop. Curious, Rouge turned to see that the helicopter was still there, and Snake was still on the rope ladder...but before any details could be picked out she felt a grenade nail her in the gut and explode, sending the bat skyward.

Over on his rope ladder Snake cackled and fired off another shot...knocking Rouge even higher into the air. One more sent her flying over the horizon. The helicopter (running low on fuel) flew back to the stage and dropped a maniacally laughing Snake off.

The revival pad brought a furious looking Rouge back into the fight, and the bat immediately leapt off and hit Snake with another Screw Kick...promptly shutting him up.

* * *

"Yeah! That's it Rouge!" Sonic cheered from the living room, "Show that guy what real attacks are like!"

Sonic's cheer was just one of many coming from the crowd in the living room. Some were cheering for Snake, others for Rouge, and a couple were keeping quiet.

Knuckles was one of those quiet ones...but on the inside he was cheering for Rouge. She was always making him look stupid, setting off his temper, and trying to steal his Master Emerald...but he'd rather have his rival win than some mercenary that was hiding behind weaponry.

* * *

Snake tried to hit Rouge with a swipe of a Beam Sword, but Rouge jumped away and hit Snake with a Bob-omb. Rouge tried using another Screw Kick, but Snake got her with his Remote Missile. This shifting pattern of countered moves continued for the next several minutes.

Finally Snake made the mistake that would cost him the match...

Rouge came charging at him, but Snake quickly scooped up a Smoke Ball that appeared at his feet and threw it at Rouge. The ball hit her right in the head, and released a smokescreen, blinding Rouge to his actions.

The mercenary then pulled out another Cypher, flew over Rouge, and landed behind her. He crept up behind her as she kicked the ball away to see, then quickly grabbed her. Snake twisted her right arm around behind her with his right arm, and used his left to cover her mouth.

Scared from the sudden grab, Rouge tried to squirm free, but Snake held tight and began to squeeze. A couple seconds of this painful squeeze passed, and Rouge managed to process what happened. To get this agonizing pain to leave, Rouge lifted a foot up in front of her then...

The mercenary yelled out in pain as the heel of Rouge's boot slammed his...tender area. He let go of Rouge and crumpled to the ground, groaning in pain.

The bat sighed as the pain disappeared, well...all but the pain in her right arm. She spun around and glared at Snake, but before she could yell at him, the lighting dimmed and a Smash Ball appeared. Deciding to obliterate Snake instead of yell at him, Rouge leapt after the ball and hit it with a volley of midair attacks, shattered it, and allowed its rainbow aura to surround her.

Rouge softly landed in front of Snake as he struggled to stand. "Game over, hun." she said in an almost polite tone while pulling a remote out of her pocket. She pressed the button on the remote and called in _her_ Final Smash...and what an impressive one it was.

After she pressed the button, an enormous robot landed behind her. It stood on two stocky legs, its body was somewhat flattened and had a large vent system on the underside. A laser cannon sat at the front-underside of the body, a gatling gun rested at the tip of the body, a cockpit similar to fighter jet's rested on top, and over each of the shoulder areas was a large missle pod. (**A/N** **If you're confused, the robot is one of those walker robots from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, the first boss you fight as Sonic or Shadow.**)

Rouge smiled, leapt into the air and backflipped into the cockpit of the robot. The canopy closed, and Rouge directed the large robot to leap into the air. The robot hovered over Snake, popped its missile pods open, and fired off twelve missiles.

Each slammed into Snake from above and caused more and more damage...then came the finale. In the cockpit, Rouge flipped the covers off of two buttons on the control joysticks and slammed them down. The laser cannon formed a large blue sphere of energy at its tip, then fired off a large laser blast that slammed into Snake, caused a humongous amount of damage, and sent the mercenary flying away.

The large mech landed and faded away (like Fox's Landmaster) while Snake lost his final life by crashing into the camera.

* * *

Rouge and Snake re-appeared on their panels. Snake was standing upright and was perfectly fine, but Rouge was leaning over a little...Smash Sickness had struck her, throwing her balance off and leaving her joints sore.

Snake let out a low growl as he left (limping slightly from a little residual pain between his legs), and didn't even bother to see if she was alright. Rouge struggled off of the panel and out of the room, somehow made it down the stairs, and finally reached the living room.

Everyone in the room cheered as she came around the corner and walked in. Rouge managed a couple waves to everyone before sitting down on the couch beside Knuckles.

She lets out a pleased sigh at both the comfort of the couch, and the removed weight on her knees and and ankles. She accepts a couple icepacks from Doc and rests them on her knees, which felt the worst.

"Impressive fight Rouge." Knuckles compliments, "Although I'm not so sure Snake deserved what you did..."

"Thanks." Rouge replies before sighing again, this time for the comfortable chill on her knees, "...and you probably would've done the same thing if he was twisting your arm around and choking you." She turns her attention to Doc, "Hey Doc! Could I get another icepack? My right arm is throbbing in pain."

"Be right back!" Doc happily said before hurrying off towards his clinic.

"_Attention...the next fight will be between...Fox and Aile! Will those two smashers please report to the Brawl Room!_"

Aile rises from the armchair she was sitting in and follows Fox up the stairs and into the Brawl Room.

"You ready for your first match?" Fox asks as he stands on his panel.

Aile nods. "Don't go easy on me just because I'm a newcomer. I'm very powerful." She replies in a polite tone.

Fox smiles at her and presses his button while she does the same. Both are shot into the Lylat Cruise stage, a simple level with a long and thick platform on the bottom, three small and thin platforms above it, and plenty of jumping room in every direction.

An Arwing flies by and out of its cockpit leaps Fox, who gracefully lands on the upper right platform. On the upper left platform, Aile runs in and slides to a stop while masterfully twirling one of her laser pistols around a finger before slipping it into its holster.

_3!_

_2!_

_1!_

_FIGHT!_

**If you think I over-powered Rouge's Final Smash, let me say one thing. Her Final Smash behaves similarly to Captain Falcon's, only smashers that are close to her are caught up in the cut-scene where she releases that barrage of attacks...get far enough away, and her attack fails completely. If you're still confused about what the robot looks like, I've built a link into her move-set that will take you to a picture of it.**


	7. Heroine vs Pilot

**A big thanks goes out to all of you who have been waiting patiently whilst I vacationed. I really hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint any of you. Please enjoy the fight between Fox and Aile, the next fight's contenders, and the new material revealed in this chapter.**

Chapter 7 Heroine vs Pilot

Aile and Fox leapt upwards and towards each other, Aile attempting a punch and Fox attempting a kick. Fox, having a slightly longer leg then her arm, hits first...a glancing blow to her right hip. Fox doesn't get off without a little damage, as they passed, Aile's fist catches him in the right shoulder. The two continue on and land on opposite platforms.

Aile turns around to keep her opponent in sight, and sees Fox do the same...but then he disappears. Barely a second later, she feels something collide with and knock her skyward. As she goes a ways up into the air, Aile looks down and sees Fox reappear where she was.

Aile begins falling back toward the platforms and can see flames spurting out from Fox's feet, then he suddenly he rushes up towards her whilst surrounded in flames. Determined to keep from being hit, Aile twists her body around and barely manages to curl out of the way of Fox's attack. Two seconds later and the situation has flipped, now Fox is plummeting towards Aile while she's on solid ground.

With a smirk, Aile leaps up towards Fox and performs a back-flip with a leg outstretched. Her attack actually connects, Aile's foot making contact with Fox's gut and sending him to the far end of the stage.

Fox grunts as he lands and manages to stand, albeit with a little difficulty. He rests a hand on his stomach and sees Aile drop down from the platform to his level.

"You hit pretty hard." Fox compliments, "That's a good trait for a smasher to have."

"Thanks." Aile replies before speeding towards Fox. Before he can react, Aile does a small jump and extends a leg again, but unlike last time she doesn't kick Fox. Instead she presses her foot down onto his chest, bends her knee, and springs off of him. Aile flips upward and softly touches down on the upper-left platform, Fox, however, is pushed backwards and off the edge, but grabs onto the edge to save himself.

Aile slips down from the platform, but does nothing else before Fox pulls himself up...which greatly confuses him. "Why did you let me get up? Why not strike when I was vulnerable?"

"I want my first match to enjoyable, and I don't find fun in striking opponents when they're down." Aile replies, "...and I wanted to see how this worked." she finishes while pulling a hand out from behind her back, revealing that a small red-and-white ball sat in it.

Aile threw the Pokeball down at the ground and after the flash of light disappeared, a tiny orange...thing was present where the ball was. It had a small orange head, a narrow orange body, beady eyes, a creepy grin, arms that looked like little lightning bolts, and no visible legs, feet, or hands.

The tiny thing (a Rotom in case you're wondering) cackles in a child-like voice, then flies toward Fox. He freaks and puts his arms up in defense, but the little guy shoots clear through him and disappears.

Fox and Aile look confused, as do all of the spectators, but the two continue fighting anyway. Fox rams into Aile with another Fox Illusion, and as she comes down, Aile manages to land a kick to Fox's back.

The two continue in their scuffle before Aile pulls out her last trick, and it was quite a powerful one. "Alright Fox, time to show you my real power. Double Megamerge!"

Upon her yell, two small floating objects appeared beside her, one over each shoulder. Aile's body and the objects began glowing in a pure white color, then a tendril of light extended from each object to Aile. Suddenly the two objects were pulled into Aile's glow and her's became so bright it forced Fox to look away.

Once the light dimmed, Fox looked back and saw that Aile was different...very different. Her blue shoes turned into red boots that reached to just below the knee, her ankle cuffs had become part of her boots, and a pair of white thigh-guards had appeared. Her tan shorts had changed into a futuristic-looking, white belt and some red armor had attached itself to her wrist cuffs over her arms. Her blue vest had turned red and split open, a red helmet with white and teal-ish highlights appeared on her head, her short brown hair became long and golden, and in her right hand was a long green energy sword.

* * *

Everyone in the living room was awe-struck by Aile's transformation...well, everyone except Ashe. She was sitting in a chair beside the one Aile was sitting in earlier, and was struggling to keep her excitement from breaking free. She was barely keeping it down, as could be guessed by her (rather creepy) grin, excited quivering. _Come on Aile...show Fox what you can really do..._was what was echoing in her mind.

* * *

"What?" Aile innocently asked, smiling at the rather stupid look on Fox's face, "Haven't you seen someone Megamerge before?"

"Mega-what?" Fox blankly asks.

"I'll explain later, let's get back to the battle now!" Aile eagerly says while pulling a laser pistol out of its holster with her left hand and firing a few shots off at Fox.

Fox snaps back to his senses and jumps out of the way just in time to dodge the laser shots. He sees Aile leap up after him and counters by thrusting a foot downward, knocking Aile downward. How she recovered from that move is what really caught Fox off-guard...Aile stuck a hand out, landed on it and used her momentum to flip around and land on her feet, then leapt back up with her saber pointed at him.

With no time to react, Fox is slashed by Aile's saber and tossed skyward, but luckily doesn't lose a stock. He counters by triggering his Fire Fox and flying back at Aile, she counters by backflipping and slamming her boot into his jaw, throwing him up and over the upper boundary.

She lands on the left platform and Fox returns on the revival pad, but hesitates before dropping down. _Dang...ever since Aile changed, her attacks hit much harder. I'm going to have to fight her differently than I thought..._

As Fox finished his thought, the stage's lighting dimmed and a Smash Ball appeared high above and between the middle and left platforms. Both he and and Aile leapt for it, but since Fox was higher he reached it first and triggered his reflector, both damaging and sending the Smash Ball away from Aile.

As the two fell, Fox caught up with Aile and leapt off her head to get to the Smash Ball and keep her from getting it. He reached the ball and swung his leg around to kick it. His foot connected with it, but only damaged the orb...even worse was that the ball was propelled to a rest beside the left boundary.

Aile landed on her back on the lower platform, while Fox landed up-right on the upper left platform. The canine's eyes watched the Smash Ball float around near the boundary, almost as if it was daring them to come and get it.

After a second or two, the ball caved and floated back to the stage. Fox was about to jump for it, but a sudden flash of light behind him drew his attention. He turned around and saw Aile in her original form rushing up towards him. Like he did earlier, Aile jumped off of his head and flew towards the Smash Ball.

One swift punch caused the orb to break and her to get enveloped in the rainbow aura. Aile landed beside a stunned fox, smiled at him, and yelled, "Ultimate Megamerge!" This time, three small objects appeared beside Aile and they, along with the glow, were drawn into Aile's body. With a sudden flash of light Aile did another Megamerge, but this time became an even stronger form.

Aile looked like she had done another Double Megamerge, only this time her hair was even longer and drawn around her head like a firey crown, and her sabre was much longer than before and had turned a shade of pink.

"See ya!" She yells before beginning to slash away at Fox.

After a punishing volley of roughly fifteen slashes Aile brought the sabre back, and with one mighty swing...her blade came down and slashed Fox from the top of the head down to the bottom of his torso and forced him to shoot directly away from her.

The force of the last swing was so great that Fox would've been KO'ed instantly had he not collided with a Party Ball that was in the way. He was still flung off the edge, but the decrease in speed caused by hitting the Party Ball allowed him to recover thanks to the Fire Fox move...albeit it was barely enough for him to grab onto the edge.

Fox managed to struggle back up onto the stage, and saw that Aile was back in her normal form...and moving kinda slowly. His heard a fanfare ring out and knew that the Party Ball he collided with must've opened. Fox left the sluggish Aile behind as he leapt up to see what had come out, smiled at what he saw, and came back down with a small, pulsing object in his hand.

Aile, being slowed down, couldn't get away and Fox easily stuck the Gooey Bomb to her arm and kept away until it blew...propelling Aile across a boundary and making her lose a stock. He only had a couple seconds to catch his breath though, before Aile returned and started attacking again.

Over the next minute, Aile's speed slowly returns to normal and Fox is forced to keep on his toes to keep from being beaten. He knew that his damage percent had to be enormous if he survived a Final Smash like the one she used. Finally he gets a chance when a new Smash Ball appears onstage, and this time he manages to grab it before Aile could.

"Landmaster!" He yells while soaring up into the sky. A rumbling noise is heard as Fox's Landmaster descends from above and it starts working like normal, then something crazy happens. He was sitting in the driver's seat, both hands on the control sticks, looking at the targeting screen in front of him. Fox had managed to get Aile right into the sights of the cannon, but then suddenly everything went haywire.

Sparks began shooting out of the console and the controls refused to respond. After a couple seconds of fighting with the controls, the targeting screen displays an image of the small Pokemon from before. The figure lets out another child-like cackle before the Landmaster explodes away from Fox.

He was fine, but the remnents of the Landmaster fell away beneath the stage. "What the...but...how did...how could..." Fox's stuttering is caught off when Aile lets out a whistle.

"Sorry Fox, but I win!" She shouts before throwing something at him. All Fox could see was that it was small, round, black, and just before it hit he saw brown shoes. He felt the Bob-omb connect with his gut, the explosion, then heard "GAME!"

* * *

Fox and Aile reappeared on their panels in the Brawl Room, Fox was fine and Aile looked it too, but if one watched her closely, she could be seen swaying back and forth slightly.

"Good match Aile, but I'm curious as to why my Final Smash failed." Fox says.

"I can answer that." A robotic voice says. Fox looks and sees ROB standing there...the little guy blended in pretty well with the room and hadn't been noticed. "It was the Rotom that did it."

"Rotom?" Fox repeats.

ROB nods, "Rotom is a new Pokemon that goes after the leader and causes their next Final Smash to fail. Do not be concerned, Rotom has a 1 in 493 chance of appearing...Miss Aile got it by pure luck. Master Hand wanted me to give you that message."

That comforted Fox's ego a little. No-one enjoys losing, but at least he lost fairly. The three smashers left the Brawl Room in a group, ROB leading the way and Fox assisting a slightly dizzy Aile.

As the three entered the living room, Master Hand called back out over the intercom. "_Donkey Kong and Knuckles should report to the Brawl Room now for the next match. As a special twist, the stage they are fighting on will be one of the new ones I have created._"

The Mobian echidna and the big gorilla leave the living room together and enter the Brawl Room.

"This will be easy. I'm much stronger than you!" DK says while flexing his giant muscles.

"Watch it monkey, I'm just as tough as you are." Kunckles replies while holding up his gloves in a way to show off the spikes.

DK begins laughing, "I hope you keep that sense of humor, I like it."

Knuckles rolls his eyes and the two of them sign-in.

The light downloads the two Smashers into one of Master Hand's new stages...Twinkle Park. The ambient environment around the stage was lively and brightly illuminated amusement park. The stage itself was comprised of three main areas.

The first was down at the bottom and extended from one side to another, which meant there was no lower boundary to KO the smashers. That floor wasn't the ground though...it actually resembled a roller coaster track and it could be seen extending beyond the left and right boundaries.

Floating above the track were two thin platforms, one near each end, which comprised the second area, and the third was a large rotating wheel (which resembled a ferris wheel) and had five thin platforms along its circumference, and the whole assembly sat above the center of the coaster track.

Knuckles appeared on the left platform while DK appeared on the right. The computer did its countdown, and then...one second after the computer yelled "FIGHT!"...DK and Knuckles lunged at one another.


	8. Echidna vs Gorilla

**Okay, this is a rather big note, but please bear with me. First off, I realized that I did not create an opening cinematic for Knuckles, that little thing that each character does when the match first starts (like a Warp Pipe appearing and Mario leaping out for example), but pretty much all he does is dig his way out of the ground.**

**Oh! And I've created a poll on my profile page and encourage all of you to vote. It will determine a later event in this story and I'd like as many people's votes as I can get.**

**Alright, now that that's out of the way, I have several thanks to give. First, a thanks to everyone who has thrown suggestions at me and I promise to use as many as I can. Second, a special thanks to my buddy, Cyphrus Cross. Why? He helped to write this chapter, and I have officially brought him on-board as an editor/secondary-writer.**

**And third, a thanks goes to Nintendo/Sega/all of the other companies who created these characters and everything else, to which I own none. If it weren't for them, this story wouldn't be here.**

**Now I'm done talking, you may enjoy the fight between Knuckles and DK.**

Chapter 8 Echidna vs Gorilla

The two smashers flew towards one another and attempted to land a punch. Knuckles, being smaller, managed to slip around DK's giant fist and nail a punch to the big ape's chest.

DK let out a loud grunt and landed back on his platform, sprawled out, while Knuckles touched down on the track. As the gorilla got up, Knuckles ran underneath him and used his Spiral Upper attack to knock DK into the air. Knuckles jumped after DK, but was quickly grounded when the ape brought his fists down and nailed Knuckles right in the head.

The echidna slammed into the trackway on his back and groaned a little before standing up. He put a gloved hand to his head which was currently throbbing, and looked to see DK up on his perch grinning happily.

"I am the stronger one! You're going to lose!" he declares while pounding his chest, looking as if the echidna's attacks had done nothing to faze him. Something must've caught the ape's attention because instead of going after the disoriented Knuckles, he leapt up onto one of the ferris wheel's platforms.

Knuckles didn't mind, he took the opportunity to re-obtain his bearings, then leapt to left platform. He turned around to face the ferris wheel...just as DK's platform came around.

The gorilla had a small chunk of ice in his hands, and before Knuckles could get away...DK chucked the Freezie, nailing him in face.

The echidna was knocked into the air while being in-cased in ice. He was frozen, but Knuckles could still see DK's movements...the ape first jumped to the left platform, then leapt up after him.

Luckily, the ice around Knuckles broke away, and the echidna used his Earth Punch attack to bring a spiked fist down at the approaching gorilla. DK couldn't get away and was caught underneath Knuckles' spiky fist, then slammed into the platform he leapt off of. The big ape was shot out towards the upper right corner, but managed to recover and land on the railway.

Knuckles slipped down through his platform and began charging at DK with a fist pulled back for a punch. DK also ran at Knuckles with one of his fists pulled back, but just before either of them could land a hit, a loud alarm was heard.

The two smashers stopped in their tracks and looked around. The two happened to look off to the left boundary and saw a roller coaster approaching fast. Really fast. Their eyes widened and both jumped for the safety of the platforms. The two just barely managed to reach safety before the coaster screamed by...if either one was on the track, they would've been KO'ed for sure.

Neither one takes the time to gawk though, Knuckles quickly grabbed DK and threw him towards the right boundary, but the ape was too heavy and landed on the track. DK quickly stood up and punched away the approaching echidna, then chased after Knuckles and attempted to land a kick only to be roundhouse kicked himself.

Knuckles was going to retaliate with a punch of his own, but once the stage's lighting flashed and a Smash Ball appeared over the right platform. Preferring to see what he could do with that, Knuckles ignored the stunned ape and went after the orb.

The echidna leapt over the gorilla, double jumped to reach the right platform, and gave the orb one strong uppercut. The orb doesn't break, but at least Knuckles forced the ball away from his opponent.

DK got up and shook his head to rid himself of his dizziness, then spotted Knuckles leaping onto the ferris wheel to chase after the Smash Ball. With a grunt he leapt after the echidna, but wasn't fast enough to catch up before Knuckles broke the Smash Ball.

"I wonder what I can do with this..." he mumbles while being surrounded in the ball's power. Before he could trigger his Final Smash though, DK reached him and slugged Knuckles in the gut.

Knuckles grunted from the hit and was tossed to the left platform, but he didn't split from Smash Ball. Unfortunately for DK, Knuckles was able to pull off his Final Smash before the ape could attack again.

The aura surged into Knuckles' body, and with a mighty jump...he soared high up into the sky. DK tried to watch Knuckles to avoid the attack, but lost sight of the echidna...he was going too fast.

DK doesn't lose sight of him for long, a second after he disappeared, Knuckles comes plummeting back down to the stage. The echidna was upside down, both fists extended below his head (so his fits would hit the ground first), and was spinning like a top.

The gorilla didn't have any time to react, Knuckles plowed through the ferris wheel's platforms and impacted the roller coaster track with the strength of a large meteor. The whole stage began to shake around, forcing DK off his feet and causing damage at the same time.

The attack didn't just end with an earthquake, roughly a second after the stage began shaking, stalagmites began erupting out of the ground before shattering, several of which hit the immobile DK and pelted him with rock fragments.

Finally, after ten seconds, the earthquake stops and the last stalagmite explodes, but DK was definitely hit hard...before the attack, he had maybe about 50 or 60 damage percentage, now that number was above 200. Luckily for the ape, the Final Smash doesn't have a lot of knock-back power, so he still had both stock.

It didn't take long for that to change though...as soon as he could move, Knuckles jumped at the ape and slugged him. DK flew over the right boundary and lost a life at Sonic-rivaling speeds.

Knuckles was able to catch a little bit of breath before the revival pad brought a very pissed off ape back. As soon as he could, DK leapt off the platform and flew at Knuckles with a fist pulled back for a punch, and just barely missed as the echidna rolled out of the way.

"You're going to pay!" DK screeched while charging at Knuckles, throwing several punches in the process.

Knuckles sidestepped out of the way of the first several, then caught the last one DK threw, a right hook, with his left hand. DK pulled his left hand back and threw it forward, only to have it caught in Knuckles' right hand. The two stand there, DK pushing his two fists forward and Knuckles holding them back...but the advantage is slowly going closer and closer to DK on account of the Smash Sickness Knuckles was experiencing.

The gorilla smirks as he begins pushing Knuckles backwards...closer and closer to the edge of the platform.

Knuckles was putting all of his strength into keeping the ape back, but it was getting a little difficult on account of the ebbing strength of his muscles. Then he spots something that could keep DK off him while he recovered...or backfire and do absolutely nothing.

It was an Assist Trophy, prettily sitting behind DK, now if only he could get it...

"Give up! I'm the stronger one!" DK arrogantly proclaimed, snapping Knuckles' attention away from the item.

"Give up? Fine!" Knuckles said as he suddenly directed DK's fists downward. With an un-blocked path for his strength to follow, DK's fists slam into the ground before their owner receives an uppercut to the chin.

While the gorilla was up in the air, Knuckles dove for the Assist Trophy, grabbed it, and held it above his head. A loud pop was heard as the trophy cover broke and the assistant appeared...and it was someone that Knuckles had never been happier to see.

She was his height, had pink fur, a wide, red dress, red boots with a white stripe up the center, and gold bracelets over her wrists...Amy Rose.

DK managed to land on her feet and look at the Assist Trophy before he burst out laughing...this was a new Assist Trophy? She looked harmless, what could a bright pink girl in a cute red dress do?

* * *

All of the smashers watching in the living room began chortling with laughter too...well, all but Sonic, Rouge, Shadow, Blaze, and Lucario, the last of which had been told about Amy's temper during the previous tournament.

The five non-laughing smashers glanced at one another, knowing full-well what this feisty girl was capable of.

* * *

The Assist Trophy-Amy didn't seem to enjoy being laughed at, and immediately glanced at DK with a single eyebrow raised. With a flick of her wrist, a large gold and red hammer appeared in her hand that was at least as big as she was...and immediately everyone who has laughing fell silent.

DK screamed as Amy yelled and lunged at him, attempting to bash his head with that giant mallet. The gorilla managed to dive under Amy and avoid a painful hit, then he glanced over his shoulder, yelped again, and fell through the platform a second before the hammer-head collided with where he was. Amy, being the hot-headed hedgehog she is, refused to let DK get away and proceeded to follow him around the stage, taking swings that were just barely missing the gorilla.

Knuckles himself had never been that fond of Amy, but he was relieved that she had shown up. As the echinda allows his Smash Sickness to weaken, he watches the rather odd chase around the stage while letting a few chuckles out. This big rough-and-tough gorilla was screaming in a high-pitched voice while dodging Amy's attacks...it was enough to get even Knuckles to laugh.

All good things must come to an end though, and eventually Amy's timer runs out and she disappears, leaving the gorilla on a ferris wheel platform...panting as if he'd just run sixty miles without stopping. "That...sucked..." he wheezed.

"Hey DK, look on the bright side...at least that gave the others something funny to watch."

That only irked the gorilla even more...he absolutely hated it when someone made him look stupid. DK lunged off the ferris wheel and headbutted Knuckles so hard that the echidna was forced down through the platform and was sprawled out on the roller coaster track.

Knuckles groaned a little, that gorilla had a head like an iron ball and his was throbbing in pain. He heard another alarm go off and quickly jumped and floated in mid-air as the roller coaster shot by. DK jumped at Knuckles and caught the echidna in his side with a punch that sent Knuckles flying across the left boundary.

Now that he had one stock left, Knuckles was pretty mad. The echidna lunged at DK and slugged the gorilla in the head, but was distracted by another Smash Ball. Knuckles left DK alone and went after the Smash Ball, eager to end this match.

Knuckles leapt to the ferris wheel, then formed and chucked a boulder at the Smash Ball, but at the least second, the rainbow orb ducked down causing the boulder to land a glancing blow. The ball was damaged, but what was worse was that the boulder forced the ball towards the gorilla.

DK took the opportunity to squash the Smash Ball between his two palms, and promptly begins glowing in a rainbow of colors. Knowing exactly how his Final Smash worked, DK began charging towards Knuckles then triggered it when they were about five or six feet apart.

The aura surged into him and DK quickly whipped out a pair of...bongos. Knuckles hid his laughter behind his hand...bongos? What in the world could that do to him?

Some rather funky jungle-themed music began to play and DK pounded on his bongos in time with the beat. Each time his palm made contact with the bongo, a large shockwave erupted away from the gorilla in some random direction.

The first few shockwaves that slammed into Knuckles weren't that powerful, but as the attack continued the waves hit harder and harder. Finally the last wave makes contact with Knuckles and knocks him into the air so hard that he can't do anything to recover as he falls.

Unfortunately for him, as he falls closer and closer to the track, the alarm goes off again. Right as Knuckles hits the track, he's rammed by the roller coaster and sent careening across the right boundary.

_GAME!_

* * *

Knuckles and DK reappeared in the Brawl Room. Knuckles was a little sore from being pummeled by sound waves then rammed by a runaway roller coaster, but, surprisingly, DK wasn't enjoying his victory. The gorilla almost seemed...upset.

"Well DK, you won. Good match." Knuckles says as he starts to leave. Suddenly he felt a hand grab him from behind and lift him up.

"No. I didn't win. The stage finished you off, not me." DK says while setting Knuckles down on his left shoulder. "We KO'ed the other once each, we are tied in strength and I acknowledge that." He adds while leaving the Brawl Room.

Knuckles glanced at DK, then smiled. "Fine, we'll call it a draw."

DK nods, "But we'll have a rematch soon. Then I will win!"

Knuckles laughs a little, "Than you'll have to fight harder than you did!"

As DK and Knuckles re-entered the Brawl Room, Master Hand announced the next fight...

_Krystal and Meta Knight, please report to the Brawl Room, your fight is about to begin._

Meta Knight (Meta) leaves his corner of the room when he heard his name called, his boots clinking on the tile floor of the foyer and cape flowing along behind him.

Krystal starts to get up, but stop as Fox quickly leans over to whisper "Don't worry Krystal. You'll be absolutely fine."

"Thanks Fox." she replies while following the little knight towards the Brawl Room, her staff in hand.

The two stand on a panel and glance at one another before signing in.

"My lady." Meta politely says, "I promise you a fair fight. Never do I cheat."

"Thank you Meta Knight, but I don't want that to get in the way of your fighting." Krystal replies while pressing her button.

"It shall not." he replies while jumping a little to reach his button.

The two smashers are launched into another new stage, but the surrounding area was a little familiar to Krystal. The stage was Fichina...the planet of snow and ice.

* * *

The surrounding area could be summed up in one word...bleak. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snow, ice, and darkness with only a few snow-covered trees to break that pattern. Below the stage sat a large building with some dome-like force-field on top and a large laser beam shooting straight up into the sky...the Fichina Weather Control Station.

Perhaps the best way to describe the stage is to connect the top two platforms from Norfair (the Brawl stage with the lava surges), then flip that stage upside down. The lower level was a long, semi-thin platform, but it didn't extend to the right and left boundaries, which meant you could fall. The upper level was a single, thin platform that was quite a ways above the mid-point of the lower level, and the middle level was halfway between the other two with a platform between each end of the lower platform and the upper platform.

A small whirling object appears on the right-most platform before Meta Knight appears with his cape tossed off to one side. A screech is heard as a large pterodactyl (or to be more precise, a Cloudrunner) flies in with Krystal aboard. She leaps off and lands on the left platform.

_3_

_2_

_1_

_FIGHT!_

**To define a few things, semi-thin is a platform that you can leap up through, but not fall through (the bottom platform on Delfino Plaza is an example). Also, there are thirteen ROBs running around the mansion; a single red-and-white one and a dozen green ones. The single one is called ROB and is the smasher, while the other dozen are called R-Unit 1 (and onwards to twelve) and are like janitors/repairmen (I say this because a question came up last chapter about the ROBs). Finally, for everyone who hasn't played StarFox Adventures, the Cloudrunners are a race of intelligent pterodactyls that Krystal befriended.**


	9. Telepath vs Knight

**My sincerest apologies for the long wait, but a combination of life issues and a surge of inspiration for another story delayed this chapter greatly. I also extend an apology to Cyphrus Cross, I decided to finish this chapter on my own, but I hope you'd still like to be my editor/co-writer.**

**I'll stop talking now so all of you can enjoy this delayed chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 9 Telepath vs Knight

As soon as he heard,_ FIGHT_, Meta flew towards Krystal with his Drill Rush (Side-B) attack. Krystal countered by thrusting her staff forward and releasing a burst of cold at its tip.

The sudden drop in temperature caused Meta to stop his attack, and he was promptly thrown downward from a whack to his head from Krystal's staff.

Meta shook of a little dizziness in time to see Krystal come down after him and attempt to land another hit with her staff. He changed his cape into wings and used a mighty wing-beat to push himself out of range of the staff.

The little knight used his momentum to flip himself right-side up then quickly charges at Krystal, Galaxia at the ready for a strike. Krystal held her staff vertical and caused an explosion at its lower end, lifting her high up and throwing a little smoke into Meta's eyes.

The vixen flipped in mid-air and landed on the upper platform, then fell down to try and hit Meta from behind. The odd thing was...he wasn't there as she came down.

"What the...where did..." her sentence stops when she feels a sword slash powerfully across her back. Krystal gasps a little as the force chucks her into the lower platform, leaving her temporally stunned. She hears Meta's shoes clink on the metal platform and manages to get out of the way in time to dodge another sword slash.

The two begin swinging their respective weapons at one another but usually just wind up blocking the other's attack. Krystal was having a little difficulty with blocking the little knight's attacks, simply on account of how small he was. She was used to fighting against opponents her height with attacks at the torso level, not a small opponent who was slashing at her shins.

Another thing that was throwing her off was how fast those slashes were coming, his sword was moving at speeds that border-lined on being a blur...and Krystal was pretty sure that had it not been so cold, Meta's slashes would be a blur. If it wasn't for her own fur coat and the insulating properties of her bodysuit, she wouldn't have been able to keep up.

After roughly a minute, Meta tires of his random-slashing technique and backs off, but only to put enough distance for him to use his Mach Tornado. At such a close-range, Krystal is sucked right into the vortex and is mercilessly slashed up. After a couple seconds, the attack ends as Krystal is knocked upwards.

Two things happen as Krystal reaches the height of Meta's throw, she hears a wing-beat, a sign that he was coming after her, and a small ring-shaped object appears in the air above her. She had no idea as to what this item was, but the vixen quickly grabbed and tossed the ring down towards Meta.

He saw the ring coming, but thanks to the strength of his own jump he was going too fast towards it to dodge. Meta felt the ring (somehow) cling to his forehead, and, half-a-second after it attached, he felt electricity shooting through his little body. It wasn't enough to cause him to yell out in pain, to be honest it was more like a long, bad static zap, but it was still enough to stun his wings and force him back down to the stage.

Meta lands on the left platform, but can't get away from a descending Krystal, again because of the tingling electricity going through his body. Krystal lands on her feet and immediately takes advantage of his paralysis by smacking him every which way with her staff.

Krystal manages to inflict roughly forty percent to Meta before the ring detaches and he starts his high-speed counter-attack. The vixen blocks five slashes before jumping away, landing on the right platform. Meta attempts to follow by using his Drill Rush, but is blocked when Krystal swings her staff a little, throwing a fireball that flashes right in Meta's eyes when it explodes.

The knight stops his attack and covers his eyes, and is soon clubbed on the head by Krystal's staff. He gets sprawled out on the lower platform, and (despite his somewhat fuzzy vision from the blow to his head) he sees what looks like a large ice chunk fly towards him. It had to have been some element from the stage because it was way too big to be a Freezie.

Again he uses a wing-beat to push himself out of the way, and unfortunately for Krystal, she lands right where he was. The ice-ball pegs Krystal in the back and freezes her into a large ice chunk instantly, the same as a Freezie would. Meta runs towards Krystal, hoping to get a few free hits in, but didn't notice that the ice-ball froze not only Krystal, but also the surrounding area of the platform.

Meta's boot comes down onto the ice sheet and he immediately slides forward, slamming his right arm against the iceberg. His impact weakened the ice enough for Krystal to free herself, but like her opponent, she slips and falls on the ice.

Meta gets up first and was about to slash Krystal, but the dimming of the stage and a Smash Ball appearing behind the vixen draws his attention away from some free hits. His cape turns into wings and he promptly chases after the orb, but not far behind him is Krystal, the blue fox hoping to keep the powerful item away from the swordsman.

She has no such luck, Meta quickly lands four slashes onto the Smash Ball before kicking it with his boot, shattering the orb and absorbing its power. Even better for him, Krystal was right at his side the moment his body was bathed in the rainbow aura, and without skipping a beat he casts his cape over her, forcing the lighting to fade to black.

Everything went dark for Krystal when Meta's cape covered her, then she felt a mighty slash cut across her chest that accompanied a bright flash of light. From the sheer power of the slash, Krystal is tossed away helplessly over the horizon, allowing Meta a brief couple of seconds to catch his breath. Krystal quickly returns to the top platform, grabs a Beam Sword that had just appeared and lunges at Meta with the laser sword poised to stab the swordsman.

Meta had heard Krystal's boots when she landed and spun around with just enough time to block her slash with his own sword. However, while Galaxia was holding back the glowing blue blade, Krystal still had her staff, and promptly used it to jab Meta in the side. The Dreamlandian flinched from the sudden attack, which weakened his hold on the Beam Sword, which (in turn) earned him a slash from above.

He was cast off the edge of the stage, but managed to fly back to the lowermost platform. Krystal (of course) attempted to continue her assault, but was forced to back away due to a sudden flurry of sword swings...he apparently wasn't fond of Krystal having two weapons to wield against him.

The vixen took a few steps backwards to get clear of the frenzy of dangerous slashes, wondering how to get him to stop. She attempted to toss the Beam Sword, but it bounced on the slashes and fell over the edge. _How do I get him to stop?_ Krystal quickly thought, _A Fireburst won't make it through, an Ice Blast needs me to get too close...maybe..._ In an instant Krystal lifted her staff above her head, spun it so the jeweled end was pointing towards Meta, then slammed the tip into the ground, causing a large tremor to shake the whole platform.

Meta didn't take that much damage, but he did lose his balance and fall backwards. He got up with enough time to block a quick swing of Krystal's staff, then made a jab for her gut, forcing Krystal to leap backwards to avoid getting hit. Meta flew straight towards Krystal, with Galaxia poised for a slash, but Krystal used another Rocket Boost to leap away.

She landed back on the top platform, but before she could move, Meta flew up to and deliver three quick cuts across her back. Krystal gasped from the attack and spun around to try and force Meta away with another staff jab, but found that he had dove back down for the bottom platform...making a beeline for a Pokeball.

Meta quickly scooped the sphere into his free hand and tossed it into the ground, and after a bright light flash...

...a blob of pink goo appeared.

* * *

Back in the living room, everyone who wasn't related to Pokemon in some way began laughing hysterically at the new Pokemon, sure that it was another of the 'dud' Pokemon (Goldeen and Munchlax).

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you guys." Red states, reclining a little in his seat on the couch.

"Why?" Bowser asked through his chuckles, "That thing is absolutely pathetic!"

"I wouldn't say that Bowser." Mewtwo replied from his isolated corner of the room. "That is a Ditto, it can change itself to become whatever it wants...its just done it now in fact..."

* * *

Mewtwo spoke the truth, in her fight Krystal was now having to fight off _two_ Meta Knights, one the normal colors and the other in black and white. Granted the Ditto-Meta wasn't as fast (or as bright, since it frequently waited an average of three seconds between attacks) as the original, but she couldn't do anything to damage it.

Luckily though, the Ditto doesn't do much damage to her before it disappears, but soon there's another problem...a siren was blaring. Roughly a second after the siren went off, the energy beam from the Fichina Weather Control Station faded and a cylindrical shelter appeared on the right platform.

Both Meta and Krystal headed for it for two reasons, Meta because this shelter was similar to the one in Norfair and Krystal because she knew what Fichina was like without the Weather Control Station.

Meta did manage to open the door and get inside first, but was promptly tossed out when Krystal lifted him up then used her staff like a baseball bat with him being the ball. Meta fell down past the lower level, but managed to fly back...although it was in vain. The force field door slammed shut, leaving Meta the victim to a horrible blizzard as it tore through the stage.

The blizzard subsided after about three seconds as the Weather Control Station roared back into life, and Krystal was released from the shelter unharmed...but the same couldn't be said of Meta, who was frozen into a mini-iceberg from the blizzard. With a nudge from her staff, Krystal pushed the iceberg over the edge and took out the first of Meta's stock.

She had just enough time to breathe before a somewhat pissed Meta returned, with his sword flailing around in all directions. Krystal was forced to barely blocking each swing with her staff as the slashes came dangerously close to hitting her shins.

"You're not bad Meta..." she compliments while continuing to block his onslaught.

"Hmph...if it wasn't for this cold, I'd be at my full potential." he replies.

He continued to slash at her for the next couple of seconds, although Krystal managed to block all but two of the hits, before the stage's lighting dimmed again and a Smash Ball appeared just above the two.

Krystal, determined to keep Meta from getting it again, quickly jabbed the bottom of the ball with her staff, both damaging and pushing it out of Meta's range. The little swordsman quickly took flight after it, but was beaten when Krystal used her Rocket Boost to launch immediately to the ball's height. With another jab she broke the ball and allowed its energies to flow into her.

"Sorry Meta, but I win." Krystal said in faintly sing-song like tone as she landed on the top platform, "Krazoa Spirits...come!" she yelled while holding her arms out.

Immediately eight strange...things...began to fly towards Krystal. They were semi-transparent, colored a mix of cobalt blue and purple, and shaped like a tribal mask of sorts. Where the eye-holes were in the 'masks' was a faint white light and multiple tendrils trailed after the masks as the assembled around Krystal, while her rainbow aura was absorbed.

The eight spirits flew into her body, each time that happened Krystal flinched slightly, and slowly she began to glow that blue-purple color, which also replaced the whites of her eyes.

Krystal tightly gripped her staff as she held it in front of her and channeled the energy of all eight Krazoa Spirits plus the Smash Ball into the jewel at the tip. Once all of the energy was forced into that jewel, Krystal let out a yell as she jabbed her staff upward, releasing dozens of small, basketball sized spheres of white light into the air.

Each sphere began to fly around erraticly before crashing into a part of the stage and exploding, with some even just exploding in midair. Meta did his best to fly away from the deadly spheres, but was suddenly hit in the side by one, and tossed toward another...which exploded and cast him towards another...which also exploded and cast him towards a fourth...which ducked out of the way at the last second and allowed Meta to return to the stage by his wings.

He landed and hid his wings under his cape as the last sphere went off on the other side of the stage, and Krystal's Final Smash ended.

"Impressive Krystal...rarely have I seen someone control so much energy so easily." Meta says in a rare compliment.

"Thanks, but I'm still going to win!" she yells while jumping at the swordsman with her staff ready for an attack.

Meta leaps backward to avoid her attack, but is quickly struck when she jabs her staff forward into the bottom of his mask. He's tossed backwards and is quickly struck downward by another blow to the top of his head.

Once again, Meta attempts to fly back up to the stage, but is struck downward again by Krystal. With his strength depleted and head throbbing, Meta is unable to recover this time and looses his last stock by falling across the lower boundary.

* * *

The two smashers return to the Brawl Room in expected status, Meta with a hand to his head (resulting from numerous blows from Krystal's staff) and Krystal swaying slightly thanks to a delayed Smash Sickness experience.

"Congratulations Krystal, you've won." Meta says while stepping off his panel and walking for the door.

"Ugh...thanks..." she groans, only as a result of the slight nausea she was experiencing. The blue-furred fox tries to step off the panel, but quickly loses her balance and begins tumbling forward.

With one swift movement, Meta leaps into the air and grabs Krystal by the arm, using his wings to both stay aloft and pull her back upright. Once she was stable again, Meta lands and continues his walk for the door. "I suggest using your staff as a walking stick until your Smash Sickness subsides, it should prevent you from collapsing." he says while going around the corner, before his cape flutters after him.

Krystal takes his advice and uses her staff to assist her movement from the Brawl Room back downstairs to the living room, accepting her gracious applause with little more than a smile and a wink...that was all she really could do.

She re-claims her seat beside Fox just as Master makes his next announcement. _Attention...would Colette please report to the Brawl Room to battle Princess Peach. I repeat, would Colette please report to the Brawl Room for a fight against Princess Peach._

Peach stands from her spot beside Mario and walks for the Brawl Room, her dress flowing along behind her. Colette follows, albeit a little nervously. The two blonds arrive and take their places on the panels.

Just before she signs in, Peach notices Colette's uneasiness and asks, "A little nervous?"

"Yea...I'm not really that much of a fighter..." Colette mumbles back.

Peach puts a hand onto Colette's shoulder and smiles at her. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll do fine. Its a little weird at first, but you'll get used to it. I was the same way."

Colette gives Peach a look that asked 'Really?'

"Honest." Peach says before a wink, "You'll do great, I can tell."

Colette returns the smile before pressing her button, the same time Peach does. With a flash of light, the two are warped into yet another new stage...Paper Theatre.

* * *

This stage was reminiscent of the Bridge of Eldin, since the participants couldn't fall off the bottom, but they could get tossed over the sides or top. The stage itself was an actual stage in a very fancy theater, with a large series of seats for a crowd, which already held ten observers.

On the stage was several large, wooden props that resembled hills and hanging above were a couple cloud props. The stage itself was oddly simple, which meant that there was probably some sneaky effects that were going to catch a fighter off-guard.

A cloud of peach blossom petals appear on the right-hand side of the stage and a huge pillar of white light appears on the left. The flower petals begin to settle as Peach appears, her parasol over a shoulder. She waves as the pink parasol disappears. At the same time, Colette descends from above inside the light pillar, aided by a pair of large, transparent angel wings that were made of light. The wings spread themselves and fade as she softly lands on the stage.

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_FIGHT!_

* * *

**Well? Krystal and Meta's fight wasn't a let-down was it? The inspiration for that other story is beginning to fade, so that (hopefully) means that this story will be updated much more often. Don't worry though...I never discontinue a story.**


	10. Princess vs Angel

**One quick notice...I didn't have much to go off of with Colette, so any sort of mistake with her speech or attacks was completely accidental. All I had was a couple descriptions and the time you spend with her at the beginning of Tales of Symphonia, Dawn of the New World (which is an absolutely epic game, I've only made it to Chapter 4 or 5 but it is amazing, a definite must-buy). However, I've done my best using what little I have, so don't get mad if the Colette here isn't like the actual one.**

**Hope its not disappointing!**

* * *

Chapter 10 Princess vs. Angel

When she heard FIGHT, Peach quickly rushed towards Colette, ready to do some sort of attack. All the angel did was ready herself.

Once Peach was roughly five feet away, the princess lunged forward and jutted out her hip, aiming to ram Colette over. But to her surprise, Colette was actually able to leap clear over the attack.

Peach landed awkwardly on the ground, allowing Colette to use a counter-attack. The angel formed a ring of light in her right hand and tossed it at Peach. To everyone's surprise (save Lloyd and Colette) the ring slashed across Peach's torso and caused damage.

Colette could've thrown out a couple more of those rings, but a sudden (and rather random) event happened...a rock suddenly came out of nowhere and pegged her in the temple. This distracted Colette long enough for Peach to stand up and get ready for anymore of those rings, but she was also curious about what they were.

"Colette?" Peach asked, "What exactly was that?"

"Its called a chakram...normally they're made of metal, but I can create them from light."

"Alright, thanks." Peach replied just before suddenly running at Colette and kicking the angel into the air. The princess followed after the angel with a jump and kicked Colette higher into the air. She tried to follow up with a stab of her parasol, but Colette countered by bringing her leg around and kicking Peach away.

The princess landed near the left end of the stage and Colette was able to land upright near the middle. Peach got to her feet and saw another chakram coming towards her. She quickly leapt into the air to avoid the light ring, but was suddenly struck hard in the gut by something very firm and solid. Peach was grounded again and looked to see a bright red hammer lying nearby...apparently, that was what knocked her out of the air.

"A pow hammer." Colette said, answering Peach's unspoken question, "Yes, I threw it." The angel then smiled, "Lucky you...most of the time the red hammer will cause dizziness, guess it misfired."

"Nice, but you're not the only one who can form items!" Peach exclaims as she stands, then suddenly crouches down and yanks a turnip out of the ground. The princess quickly throws the vegetable towards Colette, which is dodged by ducking, and the turnip is quickly followed by Colette's hammer.

Instead of trying to duck under the larger item, Colette leaps backwards out of its range. She slides a little on the smooth wood of the stage and feels her foot bump against something. Curious, as to what it was, Colette turns to see a Pokeball lying there. Remembering what it did for Aile, Colette grabs the red-and-white sphere then throws it towards Peach.

The Pokeball lands at Peach's feet and releases another new Pokemon. This one stood on four legs, had deep grey and black fur, dark red irises, and several fangs jutting out of its jaw...the menacing Dark-type Pokemon, Mightyena.

The canine grows at Peach before leaning back and opening its jaws. Knowing that its going to try and bite her, Peach leaps into the air, dodging the dangerous bite by inches, and opens her parasol to glide away.

Unfortunately for Peach, Mightyena turns around and charges at her, then leaps up before chomping onto a...sensitive part of her lower body. Her voice rang out loud and shrill (causing the spectators with more sensitive hearing to wince) as Mightyena's teeth sank into her rear, but luckily for her, the pain only lasted a second before Mightyena disappeared...sparing her rear and the ears of the spectators from anymore pain.

Peach landed near the middle of the stage and gingerly rubbed at where the canine's teeth met her person. "Ooo...that's going to be sore for awhile." she mumbled, hissing a little at the residual pain.

"I'm sorry Peach, I didn't mean to hurt you that badly..." Colette sadly said from her spot on the right-hand side of the stage.

Peach gave Colette a curious look. "Why are you apologizing? That Pokemon probably just gave you the advantage in this fight, that's a good thing."

"But..."

"No Colette. Its perfectly alright for you to do things like that while in a battle. Sure its going to be sore, but other than that I'll be fine. Honest." she adds with a wink.

Colette does a quick nod to show she understood before tossing several of her chakrams towards Peach. The princess quickly leaps away, but is suddenly grounded when one of the cloud props falls from above and slams Peach back into the ground. The princess took most of the damage, but a segment of the cloud was able to reach far enough to give Colette a good whack to the head as well.

Both girls were stunned by the sudden blow to the head, but Colette (having the lowest percentage) shook it off first and noticed a Smash Ball drifting around behind Peach. Colette leapt over Peach and threw a chakram toward the ball, but was only able to damage it and send the sphere further away from Peach.

By now, Peach had also shaken away the dizziness and turned to see Colette in the air and a Smash Ball floating around. The princess tried to run over and get the ball before Colette could, but as the angel came down from above...Colette suddenly fell over backwards, pushing both her and Peach onto the ground.

Colette quickly got up, said a quick apology to Peach, then darted for the orb. Luckily for her, the ball flew away from the stage boundary, aiming for her, and Colette quickly pummeled the ball with two strong kicks. Her second kick was enough to shatter the ball and bathe her slender body in a rainbow aura.

Immediately Colette knew what to do with all of this power. She slowly closed her eyes and reformed her wings while the aura was drawn into her. Her wings stretched out as a small light ball appeared between her hands, which were being held in front of her chest. The light grew to the size of a tennis ball before suddenly flying into the air.

Roughly two seconds after the ball takes flight, dozens of rather thin pillars of light begin shooting down from the sky, randomly striking parts of the stage.

Peach was able to dodge a couple of the light blasts, but one suddenly cuts off her escape route and allows a second one to strike from above. The light packed a surprising punch and tossed Peach upwards where a second one struck and KO'ed her with an explosion from the upper boundary.

The revival pad brought the Mushroom Princess back, but she didn't leave it until the lights of death stopped. Peach got off the pad and gently floated down to see that Colette seemed to have a little trouble standing up.

"Colette? You okay?" Peach asked.

"Yea, yea...I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Colette replied in a slightly unconvincing tone.

Peach, despite being a little unsure about Colette's status, quickly runs towards her opponent and tries to land a kick. Colette was feeling the effects of Smash Sickness, but still managed to form a chakram in each hand, then spun upwards with her arms outstretched, catching Peach in a flurry of slashes that ended by tossing the princess away.

Peach landed on the far side of the stage and as she got up, a rock pegged her in the side. It couldn't have come from Colette, and from where it hit her, Peach guessed that it came from the audience. She turned to see a Hammer Bro in the midst of a crowd of Goombas, and it had readied a hammer...with the princess in its sights.

Right as her eyes locked onto the turtle, the hammer went flying. Peach watched the wooden weapon fly towards her and, with some pretty impressive timing, kicked the weapon back towards its owner. The Hammer Bro's eyes widened when he saw the hammer coming back, but did nothing to get out of the way. His own weapon smacked him in the head, and knocked the turtle unconscious.

Peach smiled at her work, then turned back to see another red hammer flying at her. Peach quickly curved out of the way of the projectile, let it hit the ground, then grabbed and threw it back towards Colette.

Due to her Smash Sickness, Colette is unable to dodge the hammer, is struck in the face, and tossed right against the edge of the left boundary. Her luck doesn't hold out though, as she stands, Peach was right there and quickly kicks Colette past the edge and causing the angel to lose a stock.

* * *

"Come on Colette..." Lloyd muttered under his breath, "...I know you can win. Come on..."

Few smashers were paying attention to the red-clad swordsman, being too interested in the very odd stage that Master Hand created, but Link had heard what he muttered.

"You cheering for Colette?" Link asked, keeping his voice low enough for only Lloyd to hear.

"Well...yea. She is my friend, why wouldn't I?"

"Good point, although I have to say...Peach is a very tricky smasher. She may not be tough, but its practically impossible to guess her next move. And with that Smash Sickness still in effect..."

"Colette's had to endure plenty...believe me, she won't go down easily." Lloyd replies, cutting off Link's sentence.

"Hey I'm not saying Colette's an easy person to beat." Link says while raising a hand between them, "I'm just warning you that Peach is tricky, so you shouldn't be upset if Colette loses."

Lloyd was about to reply, but a sudden gasp of awe from the crowd drew the attention of the two swordsmen back to the fight. While they were talking, Peach had managed to grab an Assist Trophy, but before it could be used, Colette tripped and fell into Peach. Unlike the last time Colette stumbled, this one seemed to be an attack, since it upped Peach's damage level, tossed the princess away and...surprisingly to all but Lloyd...gave Colette the Assist Trophy.

* * *

The angel gave Peach a weak smile before raising the item above her head and releasing an assistant that widened the eyes of nearly every male spectator back in the living room.

She had long, somewhat messy black hair, and amber irises. She wore a purple robe which was closed around her middle by a long pink ribbon, tied into a bow at the back with plenty of extra length hanging freely. The robe wasn't completely closed up though...it was rather open at the chest and revealed a tight fitting white undergarment, which covered up most of her chest, but still left visible about the same amount of skin as what Rouge showed off. She did cover up all of her legs though, wearing long, form-fitting pants and steel-grey boots over her feet. The only accessories she wore were a couple ribbons in her hair, gloves that covered up almost all of her arms, and couple bracelets.

She was Lloyd and Colette's ninja friend, Sheena Fujibayashi.

Even though most of the men were distracted by the sudden appearance of the curvy beauty, Peach (being both a girl and in love with Mario) was completely unfazed by Sheena's appearance...instead she was getting ready for some sort of attack.

Sheena stood there for a second before suddenly running towards Peach and throwing what looked like a card at her, yelling "Mirage Seal!" as she did so.

Peach was just barely able to jump over the incoming card and began to float in midair by help of her unique floating power. The princess watched the purple-clad ninja carefully from her airborne spot, but quickly had to move when Sheena yelled, "Serpant Seal!" and tossed another card.

Peach floated out of the way of the next card, but as she did so, Sheena yelled, "Pyre Seal!" and tossed another. This time, the card hit Peach and stuck to her back, which immediately felt as though it was on fire.

She yelped a little while tumbling back to earth, landing on her side and wincing at the residual pain from the sudden sharp burst. While lying there, a shadow was cast over Peach, who turned to see Sheena looming over her.

The ninja girl smirked before tossing another card, this time declaring "Power Seal!" The card flew down and stuck to Peach's shoulder, causing an intense weakness to flow through her body as Sheena disappeared.

Peach was able to stand up and saw Colette standing nearby with a tiny smile on her mouth. "What?" Peach asked, swaying slightly from side to side.

"I'm just happy that I'm going to win my first Smash Bros match." Colette replies.

"How do you know that?"

Colette didn't verbally reply, but instead ran up to Peach. Once Colette got close enough, she used another Item Thief move, and tripped...this time with enough force to send Peach flying clear over the right border and taking out the princess' final stock.

* * *

A few seconds after Peach was KO'ed, the two blonds re-appeared on their transport panels, Peach still suffering from Sheena's Power Seal and Colette from a lingering Smash Sickness.

"Well, congrats for winning your first match Colette...as odd as it is to be KO'ed by getting fallen on as a result of a trip, I have been beaten in odder ways..." Peach then notices that Colette was holding a hand to her head, "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm perfectly fine!" Colette exclaims cheerfully, ignoring a slight uneasiness in her stomach, "Don't worry about me!"

The angel takes a step off the panel, the suddenly groans and starts falling towards one side. Peach quickly throws a hand out and grabs Colette by the collar of her vest, then gingerly pulls her back up-right.

"I don't think you're okay." Peach says, stepping off her panel and walking up to the angel's side.

Colette sighs, "You're right, I'm really dizzy and there's a small fluttering feeling in my belly...I didn't want you to worry, I'm sorry."

Peach releases Colette's shirt to rest a hand on her shoulder. "Colette, don't lie about how you're feeling so other people won't worry...I worry more if a friend lies about how she's feeling than if she tells the truth."

Colette drops her head to look at the ground and says, "I'm sorry."

Peach smiles at her friend before resting an arm over Colette's shoulders. "Come on, I'll help you down to the living room, okay?" she asks in a soft, comforting tone.

Colette turns to Peach, smiles, and nods. The princess returns it with a wink, then guides Colette down into the living room.

Once Colette is sitting beside Lloyd, Peach gives her one more friendly wink before taking a seat beside Mario.

"That was a very good match Colette," Lloyd compliments after Peach left, "Very impressive."

Colette giggles a little before becoming aware of a new presence, a hand was resting a little ways in front of her left shoulder...or more aptly, a paw was. Colette follows the arm to see that it was attached to Lucario, and he was offering her some kind of berry.

"Here." he said, "Eat this...it helps calm an upset stomach."

Colette smiled at the dog-like Pokemon before taking the berry and eating it, slightly cringing at the berry's bitter taste.

"Sorry about the taste but trust me, it works better and faster than Doc's medicine."

"Thanks." Colette replied after swallowing the gift, "Its...Lucario right?" A nod.

Colette was about say that he was a really cute dog, but Master Hand's announcement distracted her.

_Attention! Would the Ice Climbers, and Plusle and Minun report to the Brawl Room! Your match will soon begin! Repeat, the match between the Ice Climbers and Plusle and Minun will begin shortly!_

When the announcement was over, Colette turned to see that Lucario had returned to the far corner of the room...she missed her chance.

The two parka clad siblings, Popo and Nana, quickly hopped out of their chair and took off for the Brawl Room, eager for their first fight. The mice brothers-in-spirit weren't far behind.

Both pairs of small Smashers entered the Brawl Room and stood on their panels.

"So, you guys ready to go up against us?" Popo asked, making a gesture towards the wooden hammers that he and his sister were holding.

"Heh, you'd better watch out!" Plusle exclaims, "We're the ones who are ready, but I doubt the two of you have fought a team like us!"

"Challenge accepted!" Nana exclaims while pressing their log-in button.

Minun gives the two eager siblings a cool, unshaken look before jumping into his buddy's head to reach and press their button. Both pairs were absorbed by the light beam and tossed into yet another of Master's new stages...but this one was as unique as it could get.

Everywhere there were large, floating boulders of odd shapes and sizes. Near the lower boundary was a long, rectangular boulder, and about halfway along it length and between the upper and lower boundaries was backwards L-shaped boulder. In the lower-right corner, a little ways above the lower boundary, was one that resembled a forward-slash and above it floated a hollow triangle shape that lost one of its sides...looking like a V lying on its side. In the upper left corner floated a U shaped one with its curves flattened into two right angles, and in the center of all of this was a medium-sized square boulder.

All around this odd assortment of boulders was a pasty grey void that could best be described as jelly-like. It was rippling like water, but had that odd-jelly like look to it.

This was like no other stage...this, was Torn World.

* * *

A small orange pteranadon flew the Ice Climbers in, and dropped them off on the lower portion of the L-shaped rock. Sparks began to crackle inside of the V before Plusle and Minun leapt there from behind the stage.

_3!_

Popo and Nana get ready to leap onto the top of their rock.

_2!_

Plusle and Minun glance at one another before giving their partner a nod.

_1!_

_FIGHT!_

**

* * *

**

Alright, to clear up any confusion, Paper Theatre is designed after the battle system of Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door. You battle on a theater stage where the props can fall and cause damage or the audience can be jerks and throw garbage at you (A thanks to Double Dee Edd Boy for the suggestion). Torn World is a new area from the newest Pokemon Game, Pokemon Platinum. It is composed of nothing but large floating boulders and is Giratina's home (hint hint). Trust me when I say that this stage will be interesting and thanks to one 'Avatar Fan 11051' for giving me the idea for Torn World.

**Oh, and now that I've finished another story of mine that was using up all of my inspiration, this should update faster...or at least, more regularly.**


	11. Siblings vs Partners

Chapter 11 Siblings vs. Partners

The Ice Climbers quickly jumped onto the top of the L-block, while Plusle and Minun jumped for the center block. The parka-clad pair reached their vantage point first, and formed two small icebergs which were then batted towards the mice.

Plusle and Minun landed on their block and quickly jumped back into the air to get over the incoming ice as well as move in closer to their opponents. However, before they could attack, both were bashed downwards and crashed onto the long flat rock down below.

The Ice Climbers jumped after the mice, keen on delivering another blow with their hammers, but both Plusle and Minun recovered fast enough to cause an electrical burst around them, which zapped Popo and Nana and threw them back into the air.

The two mice quickly leap after the siblings and headbutt them, tossing the others even higher. The Climbers counter by holding the head of their mallets beneath them and plummet straight down, bashing the two mice on the head.

Plusle and Minun were knocked apart and tossed in separate directions, Plusle landed on the left end of the floor block and Minun on the right. The mice used this to their advantage though, since both quickly rushed back at the siblings and smashed them between two tackles.

While the siblings were crushed, Minun quickly jumped over them to rejoin Plusle and the two lunged forward in an electrified tackle, forcing the climbers to the edge of the boulder. Before they could attack again, an eerie call drew their attention away...revealing that some mysterious creature had shown up.

It looked almost like a long worm with a row of spikes going down each side. Its skin was a pale grey color, as was most of each spike, with their tips being a bright gold color. Up near its head was six golden prongs that resembled a ribcage and down the creature's underside was a stripe of alternating black and red. Clasped around its face was golden armor and erupting from its back were six long tentacles, each one a pitch black color and tipped with a sharp red spike.

It let out another eerie call, somehow causing its mask to split open to reveal its mouth, and shot out one of the tentacles towards the two mice, who were just fast enough to avoid getting stabbed. The creature (Giratina in its Origin Forme, if you're wondering) thrust out two more tentacles, another towards Plusle and Minun and one towards the Ice Climbers.

Both pairs were able to dodge the large Pokemon's attack...but it launched one more, this time using three tentacles, two headed for the Ice Climbers and the third went after the mice. Plusle and Minun were in the air and unable to dodge, as a result the two were quickly stabbed and tossed into the L-block. Popo and Nana weren't any luckier...they had dodged the first tentacle that was aimed at them, but the second had come from below and smacked them up into the center block.

Being either pleased with its work or done with its attacks, Giratina settled down and retracted all of the tentacles to their normal positions while shutting its mask...calming down and observing the fight from its spot behind the stage.

Despite being nervous about having such a violent Pokemon nearby, Plusle, Minun, Popo, and Nana continue to fight. The two mice recovered in mid-air and used Spark to fly at the Ice Climbers, but were bashed away by their hammers. They landed back on the long boulder, and managed to roll away from the siblings, who were plummeting down at them with hammers ready.

Plusle was just about to charge at the two, but Minun gave him a quick tug on the shoulder to show he had an idea. Having learned numerous times that Minun's plans were brilliant, Plusle followed his blue-toned friend away from the Ice Climbers, before double jumping to the ledge of the L-block.

Not wanting their opponents to get away, Popo and Nana ran after them and jumped...but what they saw there caused their eyes to widen in fright. Plusle was standing there, a big smirk plastered over his face and in his paws was a Gooey Bomb. The red-toned mouse threw the bomb, which stuck itself to Popo's face, then he and Minun touched tails and launched a powerful lightning bolt at the other pair, not only dealing damage, but also stunning them so they couldn't recover in the air.

The mouse pair walked up to the edge and peered down at the falling siblings. They watched Popo and Nana crash onto the long boulder, then once the Gooey Bomb went off, the parka-wearers were thrown off to the right-side of the stage.

Plusle glanced over at his friend and laughed, "Minun, you have one devious little mind."

Minun shrugged, "Hey, I didn't even know that Gooey Bomb was up here. Now come on bro, I doubt that got them."

Plusle nodded before jumping up to the top of the L-block, followed shortly afterward by Minun. From their new vantage point, the two saw the Ice Climbers over on the slash-boulder, but another item drew their attention...a Pokeball.

Remembering what it did before, Plusle and Minun jumped for that boulder, grabbed the Pokeball, and tossed it at the Ice Climbers. Popo's torture wasn't done yet, the Pokeball nailed him right in the temple before it fell and burst open...letting a very creepy looking Pokemon out.

It was a light purple color, the inside of its mouth was green and around the edges of its face circled alien-green orbs. The same green color replaced the white for its eyes, of which one had a normal pupil but the other had a spiral. Its mouth had a jagged shape to it, similar to fangs, and the whole thing seemed to be bound to a large rock that was sitting on the ground...it was a Spiritomb.

The Spiritomb let out a very weird noise, something like a cross between a bell and a moan before a powerful wind began to blow away from it in all directions, and gave the air a slight purple tinge.

To avoid being blown off their boulder, Popo and Nana began to run against the wind, but noticed that they were starting to feel sore. After about ten seconds or so, the wind began to died down and Spiritomb disappeared, but both Ice Climbers were painting hard. It was fairly easy to keep themselves from being blown away, but the odd thing was that it felt like the wind was what hurt them.

The two heard Plusle and Minun up on the center boulder and glanced upwards to see the mice laughing.

"So Minun, how do you think they enjoyed Spiritomb's Ominous Wind attack?"

"Can't say Plusle, but I'm glad that they had to endure it and not us."

The laughter of the two mice really angered the Ice Climbers, and both siblings were ready to charge them...when the lights flashed and a Smash Ball appeared between the two pairs. Knowing what they could do with that orb's help, the parka-clad siblings jumped for it.

Plusle and Minun also noticed the new item and glanced at one another. "Ready bro?" Minun asks, knowing that there was one way to reach it.

"Can't believe you asked." Plusle replies.

Minun shoots his buddy a quick grin before grabbing Plusle's paw and charging forward. Calling on all of his strength, Minun threw Plusle towards the ball, and was actually able to give his friend a good amount of speed.

Just as Plusle was about to hit the Smash Ball, it suddenly ducked down...so he was face to face with a small iceberg that the Climbers had batted towards the ball. Plusle let out a faint squeak before getting nailed in the face by what was essentially a three-pound block of ice and thrown back onto the long boulder, landing underneath the rock that Minun was still on. Popo and Nana land down on the "slash" boulder, and were going to go after the ball, but Minun beat 'em to it.

The blue-toned mouse leapt off the center boulder in a dive after the multi-colored orb and headbutted it downwards. The Smash Ball was thrown into the ground and bounced off towards Plusle, who had just recovered and nailed the ball with a kick. The ball was damaged even more and tossed back towards Minun, who quickly head-butted it again...this time shattering the ball and bathing the two mice in its glow.

By now, the Ice Climbers had jumped up to the boulder that Plusle and Minun were on and quickly ran towards the mice with their hammers at the ready. It was too late though, Plusle and Minun spun around to look in opposite directions, then touched the ends of their tails while a huge dark cloud formed above the stage.

The Ice Climbers, like all of the spectators, froze when the cloud gathered, watching to see the Final Smash of Plusle and Minun. It didn't take long before a rumble of thunder rolled out of the cloud, a result of Minun's negative charge mixing with Plusle's positive charge. Finally, not anymore than a second after their tails touched, a huge lightning bolt launched out of both mice and soared into the cloud above.

The cloud emits several flashes of light before a lightning-bolt leaps out of the cloud and strikes the V-shaped rock, sending two jumping lightning bolts (similar to Pikachu's Standard-B) out in both directions. Before anyone could blink, several lightning bolts began leaping from the cloud, striking everywhere and releasing those small jumping bolts.

In a frantic attempt to get away from the danger, Popo and Nana ran away from their opponents by jumping to the center rock then back down to the other side of the flat boulder, hiding underneath the L-rock.

That actually proved to be a pretty good shield from the lightning, since any bolts that missed the U-Block above would either miss the rock they were on, or strike the center rock...that is...until one of the bolts managed to strike the far end of their rock and send a jumper right for them. The bolt proved to be too fast for either sibling to dodge, and the electric bolt nailed Nana in the face. It also proved to be far stronger than Pikachu's since the bolt threw Nana out over the edge. She must've had bad luck today, because while she was over the void Nana got hit by a bolt straight-on, which packed enough punch to toss the young girl down into the abyss below.

"Nana!" Popo yelled as his sister was destroyed in the light flash. This distraction proved to be his downfall too, another lightning bolt struck in front of him and dropped a jumper right on top of the small fighter, tossing him backwards to the slash-rock. While that was the last lightning-bolt that the now dispersed storm-cloud dropped, Giratina had another idea.

His golden mask split open while he let out a roar and immediately the stage began to rumble. Suddenly the whole stage rotated clockwise by 90 degrees turning all of the floors into walls and all the walls into floors. Plusle and Minun managed to leap onto the center block to avoid being dropped, but Popo (still dazed from being blasted by lightning) rolled down the steep incline and down past the lower boundary.

Ecstatic over taking out their opponent's first stock, Plusle and Minun tapped their tails together and released a frenzy of colored sparks. Their little celebrations didn't last...Popo and Nana leapt down from the L-rock and gave both mice a good, sound whack to the head with their hammers. Tossing the mice into the bottom...err, side of the U-rock and tumbling down into the V-rock.

Plusle groans as he gets up, clutching his head as he did so. "Oww...grr, I'm going to pummel those two!" he shouts as his anger gets the better of him.

"Easy Plusle." Minun calmly says, putting a paw down on his buddy's shoulder, "Charging headlong won't do any good."

"Then what do..." Plusle's questions drops off as he turns to look at his partner. Why? The big weapon that was lying behind them. "I get it." he says while a smirk comes over him.

"Come on sis!" Popo excitedly yells, leading the charge towards the drop-off, where the mice went down. Just as the siblings reached the edge, a large explosion from below knocked them upwards and into a tumble.

When they were angled to look downward, they saw the mice carefully aiming a Cracker Launcher up at em, Plusle using the slope of the rock to help him steady the upper part of the bulky item. They hear the red mouse cackle before shouting, "Rapid fire Minun!"

No sooner said, then done. Minun pulled the trigger of the firework-launcher down and rapidly firing upward. While several of the explosions did hit the siblings, most veered off to the center block or hit the underside of the U-rock, since the powerful shots made it hard for the two small mice to aim.

Within a couple seconds, the Cracker Launcher ran out of ammo, allowing the Ice Climbers to plunge down and bash the mice on the head with their hammers. Now officially pissed at being struck in the head so many times, Plusle charged at the duo and rammed them with a Spark, but couldn't throw them far because of the large rock behind them. The red mouse was knocked upwards by the siblings' hammers, but instead of following him, they ganged up on Minun.

Popo grabbed Minun and used his hammer to bat the mouse upwards. Nana bounced off her brother's head and swung her hammer around to bat Minun out over the edge. With no way of recovering without the help of his buddy, Minun plummeted down and exploded once he passed the lower boundary.

Plusle noticed the light-flash of his buddy's destruction and got even more mad. He plummeted downward and stomped on top of Popo's head, but actually bounced back upwards from the strike. Sure Plusle managed to effectively stun Popo, but he forgot about Nana, who took his bounce as an opportunity to score another KO. As the red mouse hovered for a sec in mid-air, Nana jumped back up and brought her hammer into Plusle's side, treating the red mouse to the same fate his blue brother met.

Both mice re-appeared on a single revive pad and Plusle was about to charge after the Ice Climbers, but stopped when Minun got in front of him. "Outta the way Minun!" Plusle yelled, "I'm going after those two."

"Plusle. Chill out."

"Minun..."

"Just take a deep breath and calm down. We can't have you going irrational right now."

Plusle still seems a little miffed, but still followed his friend's advice and sighed. "...thanks Minun."

"Anytime. Now lets get those two!" Minun cheers before leaping off the platform, Plusle closely following.

Over the next several minutes, the two pairs of fighters slugged one another with punches, hammer swings, and head-butts. Probably the most spectacular move was when Popo and Nana split up, surrounded the mice and bashed them into the bottom of the L-block repeatedly. Everytime the mice came down, they were knocked back upwards. After about six strikes, the mice managed to separate from one another, then tackle Popo and Nana into the other sibling.

Finally the match seems to be reaching its end...all four contestants are still in, with the duo of Plusle and Minun at ninety-eight percent and the Ice Climbers at one-hundred three percent. Giratina had flipped the stage several times, but right now it was back to its original setting, with both pairs staring the other down on the flat rock. The crowd of spectators watched anxiously, at these levels of damage, the match could be over in a few seconds.

After a quick two seconds, Plusle and Minun lunged towards their opponents with another Spark attack, but simultaneously a Gooey Bomb fell in front of the Climbers. Popo snatched up the explosive before he and his sister jumped out of range of the mice's attack. Plusle and Minun missed and even worse was that they had no time to get out of the way of the Gooey Bomb that Popo threw.

The nasty little item stuck fast between Plusle's ears. It only took a split second for the red-toned mouse to realize where the explosive went, and even less time for him to begin chasing the siblings in an attempt to remove the explosive. Popo and Nana jumped up to the L-rock, followed shortly afterward by the mice, but in mid-jump both of the electric Pokemon suddenly fell back down to the flat boulder. Giratina had finally used his third ability...manipulating the gravity so much, that it was almost impossible to jump.

Plusle stood there on the boulder, trying to figure out what to do when Minun tapped him on the shoulder. "Plusle, you can do this." he said.

"What?"

"I'll take care of that Gooey Bomb, you worry about beating those hammer-wielding pests. I know you can do this," Minun further said. Before Plusle had a chance to react, Minun stuck his hand into the Gooey Bomb, pulled it off of Plusle's head, and jumped off the boulder.

"Minun! What the hell are you doing?!" Plusle yells, watching his friend plummet towards the lower boundary.

"Giving you a chance!" Minun yells back, "Show those two..." Minun's sentence is cut off as he explodes beyond the lower boundary.

"Minun you dolt!" Plusle yells down at where his buddy was, but he couldn't helping flashing a thumbs-up down there as well. The red mouse turned around and glared up at the two Climbers, just in time to see and roll away from another hammer-plunge.

"What's the matter Plusle?" Nana asks, "Your buddy gone? Isn't that a shame Popo?" she adds before beginning to laugh.

Popo didn't respond, he rolled out of the way of an angry charging mouse and allowed Plusle's Spark attack to strike Nana hard enough to throw her out of bounds.

"Sis!"

"Ha!" Plusle yelled, turning back towards his remaining opponent. "Now its just you and me."

"Bring it rodent-boy!" Popo yelled, charging forward with his hammer at the ready. Plusle also charged forward with sparks erupting from his tail.

Both let out a war-cry as they attacked, Popo with a swing of his hammer and Plusle with a head-butt. Hammer met head and tossed the mouse back to the edge of the boulder, but Plusle was still able to force Popo backwards, pinning the small fighter against a Rolling Crate.

Popo smirks upon noticing the item, jumps behind it, then gives it a good hit with his hammer, sending the crate towards his adversary. Plusle watched the crate roll towards him, waited for the right moment, then pulled off a Shock Wave attack to force the crate back at Popo. With a large heavy object barreling at him, all Popo had time for was to let his face sink before getting run over...and tossed over the right boundary.

_GAME!_

* * *

Both pairs of contestants reappeared on their panels, Nana and Popo cradling a sore spot on their face and Minun and Plusle holding their stomachs. "Good game you two. Congrats on winning!" Popo says giving the mice a thumbs up.

"Urgh...thanks." Plusle groans, "Never had to channel that much electricity before."

"Me neither...and that spinning stage and funky gravity didn't help either." Minun adds.

"If you two need a trash can, there's one over the corner." Nana says, pointing at the corner just to the right of the door, opposite the computer console.

Her advice was well given, as both mice quickly clasped a paw over their mouth and ran for the can. Only Minun made it in time...poor old Plusle didn't have the strength to keep it down long enough and ended up hurling _on_ the can.

Both Popo and Nana winced at the sight of what was once lunch, and quickly left the room before they puked as well. Plusle and Minun, once they were done, left before the stench could get to them, taking a quick stop in the nearby bathroom to wash out their mouths.

Upon arriving in the living room, both mice were met with plenty of cheers and congrats, but the one who cheered the most was Pikachu. Plusle and Minun were like his cousins of sorts when it came to abilities, and he was ecstatic for family to win. The smaller mice met all of their congrats with thank-yous and settled down on a couch beside Pikachu.

_Your attention please! I was going to announce the next introductory match, however due to a recent...shall we say, puke accident, the Brawl Room has closed to be cleaned up._Everyone turns to look at Plusle and Minun, who grin sheepishly and sink into the couch. _Do not worry the matches will still continue as planned, just postponed a bit. This actually works to our advantage for I am now declaring an intermission for the next hour. Stretch your legs, go find something to eat, chat a little, maybe even go pee if you need to, I shall announce the next fight in one hour._

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My apologies for the late update, but both Cyphrus (my co-writer) and I have had to deal with several things that got in the way of this chapter. I do hope that the next chapter won't take nearly as long to upload.


	12. Intermission

**Well, the only real purpose of this chapter is just to provide a small glimpse at some of the newcomers, possibly get a couple chuckles out of you, and really just provide a break from the battles.**

**I also might as well say this, I do not own any of the characters presented in this story, they are all owned by Nintendo, Sega, or their appropriate companies. Only the mansion is mine.**

* * *

Chapter 12 Intermission

Upon hearing that Master had called an intermission, nearly everyone got up and stretched before beginning to converse. One of the first groups to form was Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun, with the larger mouse congratulating the smaller ones.

"You guys did great! Congrats on beating those two!" Pikachu exclaims, shaking the other two's paws.

"Thanks, as long as we fight as a team..." Minun's sentence drops off, allowing Plusle to finish with, "We'll always come out on top!"

Pikachu laughs at their enthusiasm. "You two are going to fit right in here. Hang out with me for a while and you'll learn the ropes in a day or two."

Plusle and Minun nod to show that they understood. "Hey...where'd Pichu go?" Minun suddenly asks.

"Eh, he's probably getting attention from the princesses. The little guy loved to hang out with them in Melee...hey, how about I introduce the two of you to another friend of mine?" Another nod from the colored mice is given before the three scamper off towards the far end of the room towards Samus...who was approaching Aile and Ashe.

"Aile?" The bounty hunter asks, donned in her Varia Suit. "Ashe? May I have a few words with you?"

The two teens look up at the armored bounty hunter, with Ashe replying, "Sure."

"I wanted to congratulate Aile on her victory and ask...what exactly is that 'Megamerge' thing you mentioned in your match?"

"Well...its a little complicated." Aile replies.

"I'll probably understand."

"Okay. Well first off, on our planet of Neo-Earth there are several relics called Biometals, and they're sort of like these small intelligent robots."

"And each one has its own personality quirk." Ashe quickly adds.

Aile laughs a little, "Yea, they do. Anyway, a Biometal chooses someone to be its partner, and that allows the two to combine into a more powerful being called a 'Megaman'. That's what Megamerging is without going into tons of detail."

"Interesting." Samus mutters, "So you actually combine with something inorganic? It doesn't become armor?"

"That's right. Well...it does become armor, but it also infuses the human with special powers."

"So why do you ask?" Ashe asks.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to sound nosy. I'm an interplanetary bounty hunter that's had to deal with all kinds of technology from the most crude to the hyper-advanced, but I've never heard of Megamerging or Biometals before."

"Samus!" calls Pikachu's voice, getting the three to turn towards the approaching mice. "Plusle, Minun, I'd like you guys to meet Samus, one of my best friends here." The large mouse says while gesturing to the armored figure. Before either of the newcomer mice could say anything, Samus reached down to lift Pikachu off the floor and plant him on her shoulder.

"Its nice seeing you again you little rascal." Samus says, removing her helmet in the process and allowing her long blond hair to fall out, and getting a gasp from the other four.

"You're a girl?!" Plusle and Minun ask in surprise.

"Isn't it obvious from the shape of this armor?" Samus asks, chuckling a little as Pikachu nuzzles against the side of her head.

"So...you're a female bounty hunter?" Aile asks. Samus nods. "Huh...I thought that Ashe and I were the only female hunters here."

"You two are bounty hunters?" Samus asks, raising an eyebrow

"More or less." Ashe replies, "And we're some of the best on our planet."

Suddenly Ashe feels a little weight on her shoulder and looks to see that Plusle had climbed up there, and over on Aile's shoulder was Minun. "Heh, you're kinda cute." Ashe mutters, scratching Plusle under the chin with a finger, much to the red mouse's delight.

"Guess Plusle and Minun have taken a little liking to you." Pikachu comments, still up on Samus' armored shoulder.

Aile giggles a little. "I've taken a little liking to this guy." she says, scratching Minun behind his left ear. "You want to be friends?"

"Sure!" Minun squeaks, happy that a cute girl had grown fond of him so quickly...not like that was hard.

"Say Aile, Ashe...my Varia Suit has a scheduled maintenance check tomorrow. Would you two care to help out? Maybe chat about tech a little afterwards?" Samus asks.

"Why not? I've got nothing better to do." Ashe says, still scratching Plusle under the chin.

"I'll come too."Aile adds.

"Alright. Meet me in the gym after breakfast. Plusle and Minun, you two are welcome to tag along as well."

The small mice nod, they were too hypnotized by the affection Ashe and Aile were giving them to do much else.

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far from the group of six, Pit and Toon were going over what to cook up for dinner when Y-Link approached them.

"Hey guys." Y-Link said.

"Hey Young, what's up?" Pit asks.

"I heard that you two were the cooks now, and I wanted to know if I could also be one."

"You want to be a cook?" Toon asks.

"Actually, I already am a cook. I was one during the Melee tournament with Roy. It took forever to teach that guy how to use the stove and blender...anyway, I was hoping you guys would let me be a cook again."

"Sure, we could always use another pair of hands...even if it is just to keep Kirby in check." Toon says, then holds out a hand of friendship, "Welcome back aboard!"

"Thanks guys. I'll do whatever you tell me to, or I can just keep Kirby at bay." Y-Link says while shaking Toon's hand. "Geez, I still remember how much trouble he was during Melee."

"If you mean he was a great annoyance three times per day, then he hasn't changed much." Pit states, "I remember during Brawl he actually painted himself pure white to try and blend in with the tiles. It almost worked since we were so busy with the cooking...until I tripped over him."

"Heh, you think that's bad? I remember during Melee, he tricked Roy into chasing him into the freezer, then darted back out and locked him in! He managed to swallow three large steaks we were getting ready before I found and let Roy out...poor guy never did go near the freezer again." Y-Link counters.

"Yea, that Kirby is a tricky little pest." Toon says, "Hey, speaking off the little puffball, where the hell did he go?"

The three cooks begin glancing around the crowded living room, but see no sign of Kirby. After about ten seconds, the three turn to look at each other while their eyes grow wide.

"Kirby!" Pit yells before speeding out the living room door.

"Get out of the kitchen!" Toon and Y-Link add, hot on Pit's heels.

* * *

Lloyd was stretching a little over by one of the couches, getting a kink out of his neck, when Marth and Ike approached. "Hey, its Lloyd right?" The prince asks.

"That is right, but who are you to ask my name?" The young man asks while turning to face the prince.

Both of the other swordsmen stare at him with a blank look. "...what?" Ike finally asks after a couple seconds.

Lloyd sighs, "Who are you?"

"Oh...well, I'm Ike." The mercenary says.

"And I'm Marth. We're some of the other swordsmen, and we wanted to welcome you here."

"Hmm...would you mind if I saw your swords?" Lloyd asks.

Ike is the first to unsheathe his sword, a long golden blade that had a bulge at the end and a large, ebony-black handle, balancing its weight easily in one hand. "This is my blade, Ragnell."

"Impressive, you're using a two-handed blade in one hand." Lloyd comments.

"I'm that strong. So you'd better watch yourself when going against me." Ike growls.

Lloyd cringes a little at the large man's tone, only because it was so harsh. Marth gives Lloyd a friendly pat on the back before saying, "Don't worry, Ike always sounds that way." He ignores a glare from the stockier man and draws out his sword, a fine weapon that had a long silver blade, a red jewel in the handle where it met the blade and a green jewel down at the other end. "This my noble blade, Falchion."

Marth then gestures to the left at Link, "That guy over there also has a powerful blade, the Master Sword and...uhh..." Marth pauses to look around, "Meta Knight's blade is called Galaxia, but I don't know where the little guy went off to."

"It doesn't matter." Lloyd replies, drawing his two blades and holding them across one another in the shape of an 'X'. They resembled simple blades, with a basic brown handle and a long blade that had a notch at the end, but the interesting was that they both had a faint glow to them, one blue and the other orange. "These are my blades, Vorpal," he gestures at the blue sword, "and Flameberge," he tilts the orange one a little, "however they can combine into the Eternal Sword."

"Hmm, sounds powerful." Ike comments. "We'll have to see if its as strong as Ragnell."

"If I do not fight you in my introductory match, I extend a challenge for a normal one." Lloyd states.

"Challenge accepted kid, just don't be upset when I win." Ike replies.

* * *

"So Blaze, are you enjoying your stay here?" Lucario asks, "Its not too boring is it?"

"Boring? Are you kidding? Its awesome watching those fights!" Blaze replies.

"Just wait until the season really starts, then its going to be fun."

"Excuse me...Lucario?" asks a voice from behind the Pokemon. He turns to see Colette there.

"Yes Colette? What is it?"

"I wanted to say thanks again for that berry, it really helped me."

"No thanks are needed Colette, it was my pleasure to help a newcomer feel welcome. Aguav berries can get pretty bitter, but nothing works better for upset stomachs." Lucario replies, giving the young angel a short-lived smile in the process.

"Hey! Luca!" yells Falco's voice, "Get over here! I want ya to meet Krystal!"

"Pardon me ladies." Lucario politely says while bowing, then departs to see his other friend.

"So Colette, you're part angel?" Blaze asks.

"Uh-huh." Colette replies while nodding, "I was supposed to become a full angel, but after journeying with Lloyd, my friends and I found a way to save our world without sacrificing me in the process...its a little complicated, sorry."

"Don't apologize, its alright." Blaze says, waving her hand to show that it was fine, "You can always tell me later."

"Thanks." Colette says with a giggle.

Before either one could say anymore, Rouge walks up to the two of them. "Excuse me Colette, but I need to borrow Blaze for a sec..." She sighs, "...Sonic and Shadow are after one another, again."

Blaze groans while putting a hand to her head. "Ugh...why in the world did Master want to keep the two of them under the same roof again?"

"Because he thought they were great fighters?" Colette suggests.

Blaze and Rouge give Colette a curious look before leaving to go stop the hedgehogs from pummeling one another. The angel shrugs and wanders off towards Peach and Zelda.

* * *

"Luca, this here is Krystal." Falco says while gesturing at the vixen. "Krystal, this is my good buddy Lucario."

"Its a pleasure to meet you Lucario." Krystal politely says while extending a hand.

"It is my pleasure to meet another hero of Lylat." Lucario replies, gently shaking her hand while bowing.

Krystal giggles and blushes a little from his compliment, "Well...I don't know if I'd call myself a hero..."

"Nonsense Krystal." Fox says, putting a hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. "You're as much a part of the StarFox team as Falco and I, so you also get credit for helping us in our missions."

"I do not mean to interrupt your...moment..." Lucario says, "But Krystal, I'm quite interested in that staff of yours. Where did you get it?"

"I got it during my travels on Sauria, a planet in the Lylat system. On those travels I learned how to both use it as a weapon, and as a...well, I guess the best way to put is a 'magic wand' of sorts. Its been at my side since I found it, minus an incident on Sauria, but since I've joined Fox's team, I've had to use blasters instead."

"Hmm, it definitely seems like your talent hasn't dulled." Lucario comments.

"Why would it?" Krystal asks, "I still practice with it whenever work is slow...and there's only been the occasional accident."

"Occasional accident?" Lucario repeats. "Define it."

"She was practicing her Fireburst when Slippy walked in and surprised her." Falco answers, "She got startled and guided the fireball at frog-boy and well...tell him Krystal."

"I...kinda...blew him out the door and into a wall..." Krystal mumbles, her white cheeks turning red from the blush.

Falco however was chortling with laughter, "I've never seen Slips move so fast! I even got a pic of the of aftermath...ah come on Krystal cheer up. We've all accidentally done something embarrassing."

"You mean like how you flew your Arwing into a mountain on Fichina?" Fox smugly asks.

"Wha...How did...FOX!" Falco yells.

"You crashed?" Lucario asks, "I thought you were an ace pilot!"

"He wasn't paying attention and just crashed...he claimed it was a malfunction in the Arwing, but I doubt it." Fox answers.

"That's it! Get back here!" Falco yells before proceeding to chase after his team-mate. "You're going to pay for that Fox! You're going to be bald everywhere by the time I'm done with you!" were the bird's last words before he and Fox disappeared down a hallway.

"I'm sorry Lucario...those two sometimes act like little children." Krystal mumbles.

"Believe me, I know. I was with the two of them through _all_of the last tournament, remember?" Lucario asks, "Besides...I just tune them out whenever they get this way."

"Same here." Krystal replies with a laugh.

* * *

Red was lounging over in one of the chairs, with Squirtle to his left, Ivysaur to his right, and Charizard behind him. He was just glancing around when he happened to notice May over to the right, giving her Pokemon a couple treats. Red smiled to himself when he saw her...it was nice having another Pokemon trainer around. Sure he could hang out with Pikachu and Jigglypuff during Brawl and they were nice company, but he couldn't really talk about trainer stuff with other Pokemon...and he had a hard enough time talking with Lucario about anything.

"Go on." Says a voice behind him. Red turns to see that Squirtle had hopped up onto the arm of his chair. "Go and chat with her while this intermission lasts. What's the worst thing she'll do? Bite?"

"Squirtle's got a point Red." Comes Ivysaur's voice. "You might as well, since there's nothing better to do."

Red shrugs, gets up, and begins walking towards the new trainer. When he's about two feet from her, Red's about to say hi, but as he takes his last step May's Mudkip suddenly darts by and startles him. To keep from kicking the small Pokemon, Red freezes his foot in midair, but momentum kept him going forward and to sum up, he fell...flat on his face beside May.

He groans while lifting his head, muttering "Ow..." as he does so. Red sees a hand lower in front of his face and hears May ask, "Need a little help up?"

"Yea...thanks." Red replies while accepting her help.

Once he's upright, May lets out a couple nervous laughs, "Sorry about that...my Mudkip's pretty energetic and..."

"Oh no no don't apologize. Its alright." Red says with a laugh, "I've fallen enough times to get used to it." May gives him a weird look. "I meant when I'm exploring as a trainer, not here as a smasher."

"Oh...I was hoping you meant as a trainer."

A little silence passes before May asks, "So, are Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard your only Pokemon or do you have others here?"

"Well, I've got more than just those three, but they all hang out at Oak's lab when I'm here. I don't really know who has the other six."

"Don't you mean seven?"

"No, I mean six."

"There's Pikachu, Pichu, Plusle, Minun, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Lucario." May says, counting off the pokemon with her fingers. "That's seven."

"Lucario doesn't count."

"Why not? Does he have a trainer?"

Red rolls his eyes, "Its the opposite, Lucario _doesn't _have a trainer."

"So he's a wild Pokemon?" A nod from the male trainer is her answer. "It'd be so cool to..." she's cut off when Red puts a hand over her mouth.

"Shh!" He frantically whispers. "Trust me, you don't want to say that when he's around. It really ticks him off."

May pulls Red's hand away from her mouth so she can speak. "Why?"

"Beats me, but I know he's not a fan of trainers." Red replies, "Look, I'm not saying he's a bad guy or anything...he's just not inclined to talk with trainers. Believe me, I've tried during Brawl and all I got was a cold glare."

May gives a quick glance towards the tall Pokemon, who was still chatting with Krystal, before turning back to Red. "So what about the others?"

* * *

Other such conversations were being shared between those who were left in the living room, although others did move elsewhere to enjoy their break. Kirby did indeed slip into the kitchen...but was caught by the three chefs and quickly tossed out before he could get anything, much to his dismay. Sonic and Shadow were chasing one another around the foyer...that is, until Blaze singed their tails and forced the two to stop.

To sum up what happened over the first half-hour of the intermission in a few words, most of the newcomers began to converse with the veterans, making friends and picking up tips for their turn in the Smash System. In short...

Peach and Zelda welcomed Midna and Kumatora to the mansion, although Zelda and Midna seemed to have a little friction between them.

Meta introduced himself to Mewtwo.

Soren got into a little conversation with Shiek...but not much.

Knuckles disappeared, probably to go check on his emerald.

Mario and Luigi helped themselves to a snack in the kitchen, bringing Kirby a little food on their way out to cheer up the puffball.

Bowser, Dedede, Ganondorf, and Wario snuck off somewhere, probably to discuss their failed evil plans and concoct new ones.

Wolf was passing the time by arm-wrestling with Link, and the swordsman was winning 5 to 3.

ROB drove off to check on the status of the R-Units.

Ness, Lucas, Popo, and Nana wandered off to the game room.

And finally, Snake stopped sulking in his room and came out, although he still shot the occasional nasty glare at Rouge. She totally ignored him.

The next half-hour though, well...one word described it; random. First, Knuckles came storming into the living room and accused Rouge of stealing what he called "the Master Emerald", which was probably that giant-jewel that he brought with him. Rouge denied it which only angered Knuckles even more and he was about to slug Rouge when he saw Kirby happily walk by with the emerald held proudly over his head.

The last anyone saw of the two until intermission's end was Knuckles tearing after Kirby up onto the second floor.

Next, Wario returned from wherever it was he disappeared to with several cloves of garlic in hand. After scarfing them down with little regard for manners...his belly began to bloat. It was only thanks to the quick efforts of Sonic, Wolf, and DK that he let it rip outside instead of in the living room and spared the newcomers a most unpleasant experience...although Olimar's white pikmin are going to have their work cut out trying to decontaminate the front yard.

Finally, the last thing that happened was actually somewhat hard to understand...Samus was reclining in one of the chairs, still clad in her Varia Suit minus the helmet, and Pikachu was contently sitting on the floor beside her. He never really liked sitting on Samus' lap when she had that suit on, it was too hard.

Anyway, Pikachu was sitting there, humming a tune to himself, not really paying attention to his surroundings. From behind, Colette approached, hoping to make some more friends. It was supposed to be simple, just walk up and say hi, then start up a conversation...but it didn't work out that way. Somehow Colette suddenly fell over and landed on the mouse, and as could be expected, the shocked Pokemon released a bolt of electricity into the angel.

The lightning not only zapped into Colette, but also arced outward towards all of the nearby smashers. Of course Samus was hit, being only two inches from the mess meant that she also got a big jolt...or at least her suit did which caused it to overload and break apart, revealing her whole body wrapped in the skin-tight Zero Suit.

Some of the male newcomers were fairly surprised at seeing such a woman present...or at least, they would've been had giant bolts of electricity not been flying everywhere. Some of the faster smashers were able to leap out of the way of the painful bolts, although a few casualties were inevitable. Wolf has zapped in the rear, and yelped in such a high-pitched voice one would've thought he was a little girl. May's Grovyle was quick enough to get away from one, but the bolt wound up knocking Blaziken off his feet. Midna had good enough reflexes to dodge by bending backwards and it worked, she avoided the whole blast, bu the end of her long ponytail was singed. Perhaps the worst injury was Soren's...the poor guy took a bolt straight to the chest that pushed him into a wall and knocked the wind out of him.

After a couple seconds of the pandemonium, Pikachu managed to crawl out from underneath Colette while ending his electrical frenzy. The large mouse cracked his back before turning around to look at the angel, who had now sat up...and he winced at what he had done. Colette's blond hair was standing on end and spread out in all directions, there was a black scorch mark in the middle of her dress, and she was twitching slightly as the remaining electricity in her body steadily discharged.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Colette opened her mouth and said, "I'm sorry Pikachu, I didn't mean to fall on you."

"Don't worry about it. I should actually apologize for zapping you." Pikachu replies, nervously scratching at the back of his head.

"I'm fine." Colette replies, in an oddly cheerful tone, "Don't worry about me." She adds before reaching out and scratching Pikachu behind the ears in a wordless apology.

Watching this whole mess from behind the couch was Lucario and Blaze. After staring in awe at where the strange scene unfolded, the feline turned to Lucario and asks, "Does that happen often?"

"More than you'd think." Lucario replies. "In this mansion, the insane is ordinary. If you try to understand it, you'll just get a headache."

Blaze smiles a little at his words just as Master's voice comes back through the loudspeakers. _Attention all...the intermission is now over. The Brawl Room has been fully cleaned and the next match will be between Falco and Ashe. Anyone wishing to watch can head to the living room. Also..._ the sound of a snap comes through the loudspeaker, and instantly the damage that Pikachu's outburst caused to the living room was repaired, _There...my mansion is back in order. Finally...Knuckles, Kirby hid your emerald behind the weights in the gym storage room. Now would Falco and Ashe please report to the Brawl Room for the first of the latter-half of the introductory matches!_

Ashe, who had ducked behind a table to avoid the lightning, quickly got up and left for the Brawl Room, shortly followed by Falco.

The two reached the room and were relieved to find that what Master said was true. The can in the corner was vomit-free and there wasn't even a hint of its smell in the air. Falco took his place on one panel, Ashe took the one to his right, and the two glanced at one another before signing in.

"I'm hoping you're on the same level of skill as Ashe is." Falco states, "Otherwise, this fight'll get old quick."

Ashe smirks at him, but doesn't respond right away. Instead, she twists her head to one side and cracks the bones in her neck, then twists it the other way and cracks them again. "You'd better be on your toes Falco. I'm one dangerous gal."

Falco, after suppressing the wince reflex at such a grotesque sound, taps his button with a feathered finger, before Ashe does the same. The pillar of light grows up from their panel and spirits the two away, shooting them into a battlefield that was, yet again, new.

* * *

The surrounding scenery was a wasteland as light-posts rushed pass at a breakneck speed. All around the stage was nothing but barren rocks and grass-less plains burnt to a deep-brown shade by the sun above. The stage, in its current form, consisted of a perfectly flat rail car at the end of a high-speed transport train, and the two combatants appeared on opposite ends of the car, Ashe at the open rear end and Falco near the coupler that held this car to the one that was off-screen to the right.

This...is the Speed Convoy stage. A high-speed arena from Neo-Earth with a lower floor (the rails) that threatens to leave a smasher behind if they fall onto it.

"You ready for a beating, bird?" Ashe yells out over the simulated wind, "This is from my home. You're in trouble."

"Bring it Ashy!" Falco yells in reply.

_3!_

_2!_

_1!_

_FIGHT!_

**

* * *

**

Sorry about this delay, but an English project demanded more of my attention and interfered. Hope you enjoyed this brief glimpse into life at this mansion when there aren't fights.


	13. Ace Pilot vs Heroine

Chapter 13 Ace Pilot vs. Heroine

Falco stood on his end of the rail-car, bracing against the wind from the fast moving locomotive. Over on her end, Ashe shot a smirk towards Falco. "What's the matter hot-shot?" She asks, "The wind's not too much is it?"

"This breeze?" Falco lets out a laugh, "With all of the crap I've had to fly through, this is nothing. Now get running!" He yells while whipping out his pistol and firing off three shots.

Ashe smiles and runs towards the shots, timing her jumps to land in between the blasts. Within two seconds she's right in Falco's face and only another second passes before she socks him in the face. Before he could recover, Ashe swung her leg up into his jaw...err...beak, and knocked the pilot up into the air.

The teen was planning on leaping after Falco, but he shifted the fight in his favor by jutting a leg out and kicking Ashe away as he came down. She was tossed away to the far end of the car as Falco lands upright, but the bird doesn't immediately rush after her...he got distracted by one of the most bizarre looking items he had ever seen.

It stood to about his waist and looked like the end of a vine, a really spiky vine. This 'vine' had a slight curve to it and down at the non-pointy end was a huge bulge where the deep-green coating of the vine broke apart to reveal part of a yellow orb. This whatever it was seemed to be some kind of club, but considering Falco had never seen it before, he could've been wrong.

Regardless of what it could do or what it was, Falco had learned from two seasons of Smash to keep your opponent from the items, so he dove for and grabbed onto the vine. Instantly he learned that it wasn't a club because the second his finger touched it, the vine was absorbed into his body.

"Huh...wonder if this thing is some kind of power-up. Nah, I don't feel any different." Falco mumbles to himself, then snaps out of his thoughts fast enough to dodge a punch from Ashe.

The blue-haired teen throws another punch, and again Falco dodges before throwing a fist to her gut, knocking her backwards. A couple punches later and Ashe is teetering at the edge of the car, mere inches separating her from a fall onto the ground.

"Forgive me for the corny pun, but this is your stop Ashe!" Falco exclaims. Even though he couldn't hear it, a loud groan was issued from all of the spectators...but that was Falco for ya.

"Nope. I'm not getting off for awhile!" Ashe exclaims. With a click of her heels, Ashe triggers a couple jet rockets hidden in the heel of her boots and leaps over Falco's head to the safe center of the car. "But you're getting left behind!"

Ashe whips out her own laser pistol and fires off a couple shots. However, unlike mimicking what Ashe did earlier, Falco plucks a small hexagonal device off his belt, turns it on and slips a piece of string connected to it onto his finger all in one quick smooth motion. Then in an equally quick motion, he kicks the now turned on reflector shield towards Ashe.

The device bounces Ashe's own shots back at her, and while she takes more damage Falco gives the string a tug to pull his reflector back, switches it off, then snaps it back to his belt.

"Clever little piece of tech." Ashe comments, rubbing her shoulder where the laser zapped her.

"Heh, you can think my little buddy Slippy for that." Falco says, his cocky attitude seeping out of his words.

Ashe however, is unfazed. In fact, she actually smirks at Falco. "But is it as clever as this? Mega-merge!"

Like what happened several matches ago with Aile, Ashe's body began to glow but this time only one little object appeared over her shoulder. That difference was soon forgotten after the Biometal was absorbed into Ashe's body and the light faded, since now Ashe had gotten her own battle armor.

The high-heeled boots became a pair of normal boots that reached up to her knees, with a white base, navy blue armoring the rest of the way and a red ankle clasp. The belt had changed into a simple piece of white plastic that went around her waist, with a magnetic clasp that kept her pistols at the ready. Her jumpsuit was still the dark-blue from before, only know that color was only present as a stripe up her middle, both sides were now a light blue color as well as the arms. Her gloves had grown out to her elbows and changed into the same navy-blue color as her boots, and there was also a red clasp around each wrist.

Her orange jacket had become a large piece of chest armor, navy blue underneath and an upside-down red triangle over that, with the base being at the shoulder level while the point was at the bottom of the armor. Finally over her head formed a helmet that let her long ponytail out, with white side-guards, a blue casing, and two horns that were red for about halfway before suddenly becoming golden yellow.

"Aw crap..." Falco mutters, realizing that now he had to deal with the same thing Fox did. He jumps up into the air to avoid a punch from the now armored teen, and uses his second jump to get over her to a safe distance. Upon landing he found another of those weird vine things and quickly picked it up before getting out of the way of a kick.

"Come on Falco, are you just going to dodge me the whole match?" Ashe asks, before drawing her pistol again and firing off a shot. It was too close for Falco to try his reflector trick again, so he's forced to bend out of the way, then counters by running up and landing a swift punch to Ashe's face.

Before she could react, Falco hit her with a flurry of kicks, then delivered a fairly harsh roundhouse kick that shoved her back to the edge of the car. He was about to force her off, but got distracted when an alarm sounds. Looking around, he noticed that the next car on the train was starting to move in-bounds as their car slips towards the left boundary.

Not two seconds after that, the coupling between the two cars explodes, causing the cars Falco and Ashe were one to slide towards the boundary even faster. As much as he wanted to get an edge in the stock counts, Falco knew that it was wiser to get to safe ground, and he did so with his double jump.

He lands on the new car, noticing that there was one large crate sitting over the mark splitting the left third from the middle third and a second crate, this one up in the air on a few supports at the edge of the car, over the middle and right thirds. What he didn't notice however, was Ashe landing behind him and landing a punch to his back, tossing him into the crate.

It stung a bit to have your face smashed against metal, but Falco was able to fly upward with his Falcon Fire move before Ashe could get him trapped. As could be expected, Ashe jumped after him, but Falco punched her back down, sprawling the armored teen on the car below.

Just then, Falco hears a thud from behind him and turns to see another new item, but it wasn't another vine...this had a sort of lime-green center part shaped like a rounded triangle and crossing right through the middle was a deep-green section that formed a small stubby tail at the the bottom and big curving horn at the top.

Falco still didn't have a clue as to what they were, but regardless...more items for him meant less for Ashe, so he grabbed it. Unlike the vines, which did nothing when grabbed, this one triggered an effect that reminded one of the Dragoon from the previous tournament. The two vines separated from Falco and hovered down near the tail of the new piece on their ball end before flipping to point the vines toward the horn.

Falco leapt onto the newly formed Air Ride and took off, expecting it to work much like the Dragoon...boy was he wrong. True this one did fly out towards the camera and it did spin around to face the stage...but where the Dragoon patiently waited for its rider to aim, this Air Ride let out a roar and took off, barely giving a now terrified Falco enough time to grab onto the horn to avoid getting left behind.

The psychotic machine dove for Ashe, and just barely missed as she jumped atop the lower crate. It wasn't going to give up that easily though, and the machine turned on its own to fly around and attack from the stage's left. Ashe jumped over that one.

The machine pulled a U-turn and dove for her again, missing as she ducked down. It flew around in a wide arc then tried to come in from behind the stage, missing yet again as she rolled out of the way. The insane machine continues to divebomb Ashe from various directions and angles until it finally manages to land a full on tackle roughly fifteen seconds after Falco formed it. The force was so strong that it threw Ashe clear over the right boundary despite her relatively low percentage, but it was also the second that Falco lost his grip on the horn and was left behind as the machine vanished.

Sure he was ahead in stock and had a somewhat low percentage, but the bird was still swaying back and forth as he stood on the higher crate. That gut-wrenching ride had thrown off his balance, but the more apparent effect was the look of terror frozen to his face. Clenched teeth, eyes the size of dinner plates, hand clutching his heart, beads of sweat dripping from his feathers...yup, he went for one terrifying ride.

"Oh god..." he mumbles as Ashe is brought back in, "If this wasn't virtual...I'd probably need to change my pants right about now."

He was soon his old self though, since Ashe took the opportunity to attack from behind and drop him down to the car below from a punch, then followed up with a stomp to his torso.

Falco groans as he gets up, blocks a few punches from Ashe then skips backwards to get away from her. With one hand nursing the sore spot on his chest, Falco yanks out his pistol with the other and fires off shot after shot to keep Ashe away.

She only takes a few hits before double jumping up to the higher crate and coming down on Falco's head with a Star Rod swing, tossing the avian from the wall he had back himself up against.

He barely had time to get up before getting slammed in the back by a star shot. "Hey!" he yells, turning around so another shot can nail him in the gut, "Knock it off!"

"Fine." Ashe shrugs before putting all her might into tossing the rod. The rod spins a few times in the air before pegging Falco between the eyes with the star end, tossing him back...right to the edge of the boundary.

He groans from the hit and opens his eyes to see Ashe standing in front of him, Star Rod back in hand. Half a second later, he explodes off the right boundary and is standing on a revival pad.

Falco would've waited to catch his breath, but there wasn't any time. A Smash Ball had just appeared and flew down on the right side of the upper crate. The bird leaps to the crate and looks down to see Ashe had punched it underneath the crate he was standing on. Being smart, Falco jumps backward off the crate to come down from the left, and managed to do his spin-kick move into the ball after Ashe punched it again, causing its energy to flew into him instead of her.

"Here go again." He mutters while absorbing the energy, "Time to drive around in another landmaster...personally I prefer the air!" He shouts before leaping high into the sky.

However, instead of finding a landmaster waiting for him, he found something that almost brought a tear to his eye...an Arwing was waiting instead. With a yell of joy he backflips into the cockpit, grabs the controls and flies to a position between camera and stage.

The avian switches the starfighter into hover mode and activates the targeting system. Within seconds he begins firing off laser blasts at a fleeing Ashe. Luckily the stage seemed to want to help since this car also begin to drop away from the remainder of the train, squeezing Ashe into a tighter and tighter space.

His advantage soon disappears, since Ashe quickly jumps onto the the new car, this one having a pyramid arrangement of three crates on it, and is able to use the crates to make herself a harder target to hit. By the time the Arwing's autopilot took over to fly Falco back to the stage, all he had managed to do was increase her damage a bit.

The ship dropped him off at the top of the pyramid, and Falco's only got a second to jump away from a charging Ashe.

* * *

"Come on Ashe...you can do it." Aile mutters, intently watching her friend's fight. "You haven't let anything stop you before, don't let it now."

The mercenary teen winces when she sees Ashe take a hard hit to her gut. "I know you can win."

Samus notices Aile's muttering and leans over to ask, "Cheering enough?"

"What? I just want my friend to win."

"I'm cheering for her too, but Falco's tricky. He may not look it, but he's a tough one to take down, plenty of recovery moves."

"So? I know that Ashe can win. She's beaten much tougher things...she got the new Smash Ball!" Aile cheers as her friend grabs the glowing orb.

* * *

Ashe smirks at the cornered Falco before absorbing the energy into her armor. She whips out both pistols, which seemed to have gotten a little bigger, and aims at Falco before pulling the trigger and causing the now automatic pistols to pelt him with laser blasts. After maybe twenty or so blasts were shot, both guns begin to charge up power before releasing a single, giant laser blast at the trapped bird.

He took a lot of damage from the rapid-fire part, and the giant blast would've blown him away had there not been a large crate right at his back. Regardless, those shots stung like hell, and Falco is cringing from the pain tingles all around his body.

Despite her best efforts, the Final Smash ate up all of Ashe's energy, leaving her at the back end of the car, panting hard as she tried to catch her breath and doubled-over from a small cramp. She's was as good as done, and after Falco pushed her over onto the tracks, allowing her to get left behind on the rails, the match was done too.

Both fighters returned on their panels in the Brawl Room, Falco wincing from the tingles and Ashe with a hand over the cramp in her stomach.

"Hey, good match there." Falco compliments.

"Thanks. You're pretty good too." Ashe replies, stepping off the panel and taking a few steps before stopping and grunting from a new cramp, this one in the back of her left shin.

"Let me help you." Falco says as he comes over, but Ashe seems to ignore him and force herself out of the room on her own. Needless to say, Falco was a little confused at Ashe's compliment then rudeness, but he shrugs it off. "Girls..." he mutters while leaving as well, "Never gonna understand them."

By the time he returns to the living room, Master was already announcing the next match, _Would the trainers Red and May please return their pokemon and head to the Brawl Room, your match is about to begin. Repeat, Red and May, your match is about to begin._

Both trainers recall their Pokemon before heading to the Brawl Room, Red politely allowing May to leave the room first. They walk into the room and stand atop their panels.

"These aren't like normal Pokemon Battles May, you'll really have to think outside the box if you want to win." Red says.

"Thanks, but you'll find that my Pokemon aren't as easy to beat as you think." May replies, giving him a smile that said she had a bunch of tricks up her sleeve.

Red gives her the same smile before pressing his button, with May shortly following suit. The two trainers are shot into a stage that Master was quite proud of...Poketopia.

* * *

This stage was a simple flat floor, no platforms, no dangerous obstacles apart from the surrounding ocean, it was...oddly simple. In the background, was two large floating grandstands filled with cheering fans, a couple floating boats shaped after the Pokemon Lapras idly drifted by behind those and in the far background was a huge island dominated by giant buildings shaped after Pokemon, shielding the stage from the setting afternoon sun.

Red appears on the left end of the floating stage, and May appears on the right. Both give the other a quick nod before tossing out a Pokeball they randomly pluck from their belt.

"Go Ivysaur!" Red yells.

"Mudkip, time to shine!" May shouts.

Their appropriate pokemon appear in front of them and face the other down.

"You're going down, bud-boy." Mudkip growls.

Ivysaur blinks, "Wow...that's not even good."

_3_

_2_

_1_

_FIGHT!_

**

* * *

**

My apologies...homework kept getting in the way and causing writer's blocks. I've also had to work on my own again since Cyphrus is unable to participate much, but since he's such a good friend and a bit of a Falco fan, this chapter is for him.

**Now where was I...oh yea. That crazy Air Ride Falco built was the Hydra, Dragoon's counterpart in Kirby Air Ride. Also, my overly-descriptive side struck again when Ashe megamerged, so if you're confused, I'm sorry for it but go try and find a picture of her in Model A form. Maybe I should just start doing that...anyway, that's it! Just six fights left!**


	14. Trainer vs Trainer

**Okay, one thing I have to say before this next chapter can begin...I do NOT accept flames at all. I say this because an anonymous user posted a flame that was, to be honest, absolutely pathetic. He/she didn't even bother to read the story at all and barely used two sentences. Regardless, I'm making it clear that all flames are not appreciated and not welcome. If you don't like this story, don't read...simple as that.**

**...and while I've got your attention, I'd also like to answer a few concerns that seemed to have come up...what I meant by "six fights left" was six _introductory_ fights left until I can continue on with the story. Rest assured there will be more battles and a tournment for the championship, but not for a long while. Also, I am saying that Sonic and Shadow will fight, but their's will come last...hey, I'm saving the best for last.**

* * *

Chapter 14 Trainer vs. Trainer

Without waiting for an order from his trainer, Mudkip charges toward Ivysaur, aiming to head-on tackle the opponent. Ivysaur doesn't so much as blink as the smaller pokemon runs at him, but counters none the less by extending a vine to grab Mudkip, then spinning around and tossing him off towards the ocean.

Mudkip got hurt a little since he scraped himself on the side of the arena before landing in the ocean. Splashing into the ocean didn't really effect the little guy with him being a water-type, so he simply hopped right out...finding Ivysaur had an almost bored look on his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry...didn't mean to bore you." Mudkip spat.

"You're not boring, I'm just..." Ivysaur's sentence didn't finish, Mudkip hit him with a Water Pulse attack.

As Ivysaur shook the shock off, Mudkip ran up and hit Ivysaur with a Mud-Slap, then a basic head-butt. Now Mudkip has Ivysaur's attention, which came in the form of a Razor Leaf to the water-type's side. Before he could get away, Ivysaur grabs Mudkip in his vines again, squeezes the small pokemon, then slams him into the ground.

As Mudkip lay on the ground, wincing from the tight squeeze, Ivysaur tromps up to him, a ticked look replacing his bored one. Before Ivysaur could do anything, a bright light envelopes Mudkip and draws him back towards May while the female trainer tosses out her next pokeball.

Instead of staring down at Mudkip, Ivysaur was now staring _up_ at Grovyle, with the lizard having his arms crossed and a "What-do-you-think-you're-doing?" look present. With a simple swing of his arm, Grovyle sent the other Grass-type several feet away thanks to a potent Leaf Blade attack while his look changes to a smug smirk.

Before either Pokemon could do anything more, a sudden rumble caught their attention as platform began to lift out of the arena floor. It resembled a long section of a chain-link fence, only it didn't flex under either Pokemon's weight. What the platform does do, is whisk the two Pokemon high into the sky, leaving their trainers behind on the arena.

"Oh great." May groans, "How are we supposed to give our Pokemon orders if the stage leaves us behind?"

"To be honest May, we're only here for, more or less, a motivational purpose." Red replies, "To the Smash System, we're just part of the background...although..." he trails off as a large portal opens behind them, a disk of white light about five feet in diameter. "We use this to get around on these kinds of stages." Red quickly hops through the portal, followed shortly by May, and now finds himself standing on a little wooden porch stop an island in a tropical lagoon, roughly sixty percent the size of the previous form.

Accompanying them on the island, which had some very beautiful oranges tossed across it by the setting sun, was a single tall palm tree that bent out over the bright aqua waters. Scattered out on those waters were several other islands, from small ones barely large enough to count as a sandbar, to large ones with grass patches and at least a dozen palm trees like the one on their island. The scenery is soon forgotten though, since down from above came the platform, and still on it were both Grovyle and Ivysaur, both having a few new scratches.

"Ivysaur! Return!" Red yells, returning his grass-type, saving it from another Leaf Blade, and tossing out Charizard to take its place.

Grovyle lifts an eyebrow as he quickly evaluates his new opponent, Charizard was definitely bigger than him, and probably had him outclassed in physical strength, but Grovyle had a feeling that Charizard probably wasn't that smart.

That suspicion was confirmed as the dragon pulls a large boulder out of nowhere and shatters it with his head of all things. Grovyle winces from the rock fragments that slam into him, and also gets a little dust in his eyes. While trying to shake the dust out of his eyes, he hears May yell, "Hurry Grovyle! Energy Ball!"

Like he was trained to do, Grovyle followed his trainer's order, forming a jungle-green ball of energy at his mouth and spitting it out at Charizard. The attack caught the dragon in the shoulder and slowed him down long enough for Grovyle to leap backwards and away from danger, but really only ticked Charizard off more than anything.

The lizard didn't notice this at all, when he leaped back he saw an Assist Trophy had appeared, but he jumped so far that it was between him and Charizard. Despite knowing that it would put him back in danger, Grovyle couldn't let Charizard get that, so he dives for it. He stretches an arm out, reaching with all of his might to grab the powerful item...a few more inches and...his finger touches the case...

Grovyle yells out in pain as Charizard delivers a powerful headbutt to the grass-type's skull, forcing Grovyle to grab his head and hiss from stinging. It was like ramming your head against a bowling ball and damn it hurt!

While the grass-type's eyes rolled around from the pain, Charizard smirks, having barely felt a thing, and calmly reaches down to grab the item before holding it high. The casing pops apart, but instead of the occupant landing on the arena, he jumps into the background between Red and May. He seemed to be a little old, maybe near thirty, but he was well-muscled and wore a blue cloak that had two long tails that fell down behind his legs. Huge black boots and long black trousers covered his legs while a small bandage was present over his nose, but the most noticeable thing about this guy was his left arm...it was inside of some black and red machine.

"Umm...who are you?" May asks.

The assist trophy, not programmed to reply, ignores May and tosses out two Pokeballs, one letting out an Espeon, the other letting an Umbreon out. While the psychic pokemon doesn't stray far from his trainer's side, Umbreon charges off toward Grovyle, his teeth barred for a Bite.

Playing it smart, although it doesn't take much brains to know you should stay away from the attacker with teeth, Grovyle backflips into the lagoon water. He surfaces to find Umbreon waiting at the water's edge, glaring at the grass-type that was out reach. The lizard floats there for a few seconds, thinking of how to get around this little problem, then leaps out of the water and continues his jump over Umbreon by using Leaf Blade...but there was one thing he forgot about...the Espeon.

Grovlye lands right in front of the psychic-type and is promptly shot in the gut by a Psywave attack. But it doesn't stop there, oh no...Umbreon had charged up from behind while Espeon shot him and chomped down on Grovyle's leg. He yells from the shock before shaking Umbreon loose, only to get hit in the side by Espeon's Psywave the moment before he and Umbreon vanished with their trainer.

"Who was that?" May asks, her hands on her hips suggesting she wasn't pleased with the trophies doings.

"That might've been Wes..." Red mumbles to reply.

"Wes?"

"Yea. He was a trainer that...eh, I'll tell you later. Charizard! Flamethrower!"

The dragon nods before flying up to and breathing fire on Grovyle. After flailing for a few seconds, Grovyle manages to jump behind Charizard and then front-flipped in place, bashing the fire-type with his long leaf hair thing.

Wincing from the smack to his shoulder, Charizard turns around only to get socked in the cheek. After taking a couple kicks, Charizard swats Grovyle away with a wing before gliding up to and hitting the lizard with another Rock Smash.

This time he was close enough to toss Grovyle away into the water, but the lizard recovers and gets back onto the stage just before the platform takes off again.

Upon landing, the two find themselves deep inside a cave with huge, light-blue crystals growing out of the walls, floor, and ceiling. It appeared to be thanks only to these crystals that both of them could see anything...and the first thing seen is Grovyle exploding off the right side of the stage from another Rock Smash via Charizard.

The revival pad comes back empty, but is soon filled when May tosses her third pokeball up there, bringing Blaziken into the fight. The eager fowl leaps off the panel and hits Charizard with a downward kick.

While Charizard shakes off the dizziness, Blaziken jumps away to give herself a little room, then does the "bring-it" taunt. Now officially pissed, Charizard roars before flying up to and striking Blaziken into the air with Fly, then brings his head back down to bash Blaziken back down into the ground.

The large bird groans a little, but manages to dodge a plummeting dragon, leaving Charizard facing the wrong way.

"Blaziken! Flare Blitz!" May yells.

Blaziken smirks before surrounding herself in fire, then charging forward, ramming Charizard in the back with enough force to toss the weakened dragon across the left boundary. Blaziken yells out a victory cheer while sprouting flames from her wrists ignoring the recoil damage she took, but is quickly blind sighted by a Squirtle tackle to the back of her head.

Before Blaziken could do anything, Squirtle had landed on the ground and was currently punching at her shins, causing her to wince with each strike. He may have been small, but he was feisty, since after landing about ten punches to her shins, Squirtle jumps away, only to return as a barreling shell-shaped soccer ball that scored a goal on her gut.

Stumbling backward from the blow, Blaziken weakly falls to her knees as the platform returns yet again, whisking the two Pokemon high into the sky. "What's the matter?" Squirtle mockingly asks. "Can't handle a turtle?"

"You just...caught me off guard." Blaziken replies.

Squirtle rolls his eyes, "Yea...sure..."

That distraction provides Blaziken an opportunity she took...by using those powerful legs of hers, Blaziken springs toward Squirtle and lands a Fire Punch, tossing the small Pokemon to the edge of the platform. He wasn't off, but he was close enough for his tail to be hanging off the edge.

Now the stage lands in some kind of ruin-themed arena just off the coast of the main island. All around the stone arena were ocean waters, crumbling walls and old torches smoldering in the light of the setting sun, which was gleaming off the ocean's surface and filling the whole stage with ample light.

With the platform gone into the ground again, Squirtle was now hanging near the right edge of the stage, with the ocean's waves lapping at his tail. He pulls himself up just as a Smash Ball appears, floating right over Blaziken's head. She leaps upward with a Sky Uppercut to damage the ball, then plummets and kicks the ball before landing a Fire Punch to break it.

"May!" she calls while absorbing the power. May nods before tossing the other two Pokeballs, letting Grovyle and Mudkip out as well.

Grovyle quickly scoops Mudkip into his arms before jumping up and landing on Blaziken's shoulders. Blaziken gathers embers near her mouth, while white light gathers near Grovyle's and Mudkip's cheeks inflate. All at once, Blaziken, Grovyle, and Mudkip launch Overheat, Solarbeam, and Hydro Pump (respectively) with the three beams traveling in a straight line and flying towards Squirtle.

The powerful attack had reduced the visibility of everyone, but something was definitely off. The announcer never said the match was over, but there was no way Squirtle could've dodged that attack...but the answer became evident as Squirtle reappeared, his body flashing white with little light sparkles pulsing in the air around him.

"What?!" Blaziken yells in astonishment as Grovyle and Mudkip return to their balls, "But...but how did you..."

"Starman." Squirtle replies as the sparkling fades. "While you were busy going for the Smash Ball I heard a Starman jumping behind me. So I grabbed it and became invincible just long enough to survive." His sentence finished just as a fresh Assist Trophy clattered to his feet from thin air. "And now, I'll win!"

The turtle grabs the trophy and holds it up high, again releasing a character who leaps back with Red and May, but this guy was very different from Wes. He was a younger teen, probably no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, he had spiky red hair and big green eyes. His shirt was yellow with long black sleeves and his baggy blue pants drooped over the ankles of his black sneakers. However, like Wes, this kid had a machine on his arm...only this one was more high-tech looking and was present on his right arm.

This kid smirks before raising the machine arm's hand high into the sky and snapping. The stage began to rumble and a wind began to blow as a large...something flew in. That something was soon revealed to be a Lugia as it settled down behind the stage...but this Lugia was very different from the ones that came out of a pokeball.

This one had a shadow-purple body instead of a white one, an almost evil looking off-white color was present on its belly, tail spikes, back-flaps, and eye-guards instead of the usual ocean blue, and its eye-guards had some evil-looking curves in them. The eyes though were the most eerie part of this Lugia, both the white of its eyes _and_ its iris was crimson red, with just a thin white line separating the two.

Shadow Lugia roars before releasing a Shadow Beam (a pitch black Shadow-form of Hyper Beam) from its mouth, aiming towards Blaziken. The large bird can't so much as blink before she gets blasted by the attack, and while it doesn't do much damage, Shadow Lugia's attack does cause an explosion which sends Blaziken flying away over the horizon...which means that Red wins.

* * *

Both trainers reappear on their panels after the announcer yelled "_GAME_" and both are perfectly fine. Red releases his pokemon to find that they are a-okay as well, but May's weren't: Mudkip had never done a Hydro-Pump before, Grovyle pushed himself incredibly hard to fire a Solarbeam without charging, and Blaziken had used Overheat, which was a move that drains her energy, so all were a little exhausted.

"You guys want to rest a little?" May asks. After receiving a nod form all three, May sends them back inside their pokeballs before following Red and his pokemon out of the room and down the stairs. After smiling and accepting the applause for the match, she takes a seat beside Sheik just as Master's voice comes back through the speakers.

"_Attention all. Ness, Kumatora, your match will begin soon. I feel that I should warn the two of you, this stage is very difficult, so be on your guard._"

Eager as always, Ness hops out of his chair and hurries off, shortly followed by Kumatora. While the two kids hurry off to go start their match, all of the spectators begin wondering what this new stage was like...well, all but one.

This one lone spectator wasn't concerned with the new stage or the next match, and while he wasn't showing it, he was spooked greatly. He could still see Shadow Lugia's piercing red eye, and he kept hearing the same thing echo in his mind, "_X...D...2_"

Ness and Kumatora stood on their panels and glanced over at one another. "Don't go easy on me just because I'm a princess." Kumatora warned, "I wasn't raised like one, so I'm not weak."

"Okay." Ness replies with a nod.

* * *

The two press down on their buttons and launch themselves into a surprisingly innocent looking level. There was a large platform that looked as though it was made of red-tinted glass down near the bottom and a smaller blue-tinted glass platform floating along above it. The only immediate threat that this stage presented was the little solid ground to stand on.

In the background was what looked like, to be completely honest, a small star glowing in a pale-blue light. Around it was two more of the plastic-like objects, and a small crowd of...well, they looked like small, pudgy star-shaped creatures. They didn't seem to pose any threat at all, the little guys seemed content enough to dance and float around the actual star.

On the left end of the red platform, Ness comes flying in so fast that he's literally on fire. The young boy skids to a stop as the flames go out, leaving him coated in soot which gets everywhere as he shakes it off.

Kumatora enters with a much more, refined display. A spiral of light surrounds her body as she floats in, with the light quietly dimming to nothing as her feet touch the right end of the red platform.

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_FIGHT!_

**

* * *

**

The stages from this battle are all designed after the colleseums in Poketopia, and the order is Gateway, Lagoon (only accessable in the game's DS battle or Wi-Fi modes), Crystal, and Sunset...there are more, seven others actually, I just didn't include them. Wes is one of the default names for the character you control in Pokemon Colleseum, and the young kid commanding Shadow Lugia is Michael (again a default name) from the sequel, Pokemon XD, Gale of Darkness.

**Speking of those games, what is this? Someone in the mansion having a connection to the Shadow-pokemon incidents? To find the answer, first I have to finish off these fights! And you'll have to keep reading!**


	15. PSI Kid vs PSI Princess

**Oy...this took forever to finish. I am so sorry for the delay, but finals sprung up and joined homework in the list of things that slowed progress...on the plus side though, its summer break for me! Hopefully there won't be any more long delays like this 'till school restarts!**

**You've waited long enough, go ahead and enjoy the Clash between Ness and Kumatora!**

* * *

Chapter 15 PSI-Kid vs. PSI-Princess

The instant he heard "FIGHT" Ness charges toward Kumatora until he's close enough to be in range for PK Fire. He shouts the attack and fires a small lightning bolt from his fingers, but Kumatora easily jumps over it before kicking Ness in the side.

"Think I'll get hit by a PSI move like that?" Kumatora mock asks. "I know how that move works, but have you seen this? PK Brainshock!"

The young princess juts out a hand and releases a pulse of sound waves from her palm. The waves nail Ness right in the forehead and screw around with his balance while giving him a serious headache. The young boy begins rocking back and forth while holding his head in his hands.

She smirks, "Didn't think so." Kumatora then pulls her hand back, then swings forward, smacking Ness across the cheek with a PSI-enhanced slap.

True, the slap did knock Ness back to his senses, but it also stunned him long enough for Kumatora to push him away with a PSI-pulse.

Ness skids up to the edge of the plastic platform, but is able to get up and jump to one of the higher platforms before Kumatora can reach him and attack. The young princess tries to follow, but winds up getting a baseball bat to her face.

She lands, sprawled out on the lower platform, with Ness giggling up above. For whatever reason, he found what he did to be quite funny...although Kumatora didn't think so.

She gets up, growls a little, then yells "PK Thunder!" before a wisp of ball lightning flies out of her head and up towards Ness.

Knowing full well what happens when that ball hits something, Ness hightails it away towards the other platform. Sadly, Kumatora's attack was moving too quickly and it zapped the little guy in the rear, causing him to yelp.

Now Kumatora was the one cackling with laughter. Ness, not one to enjoy getting a zap to the butt, whips around to run at Kumatora, but suddenly the field begins acting up.

All of sudden, the little star creatures (Lumas by the way) scatter, just as a wave of sky-blue light swallows up the background. The platforms fall away, leaving the two kids standing on a clear floor. This weird process, which was quite similar to Castle Siege's effect, lasts only two or three seconds before the light fades and the new form of the arena comes into view.

Far away in the background floated two huge masses, one looking like a sphere of rock that split in half, and the other like a giant mountain of ice. But that's the background, the stage is what's the really odd thing. There was a perfect seam where the two halves of the stage connected in an impossible way...the left half of the stage was all volcanic, with a solid rock platform in the air, half of the lower platform as rock, and a pool of lava just beyond that. The right half was the exact opposite, its platforms were nothing but solid ice with a pool of frigid water resting just beyond it.

The stage had entered Freezeflame form.

Kumatora was standing on the lower platform's rock half, and Ness was over on the ice half...and the sudden change of the stage startled the young boy, causing him to slip and fall on his rear.

Hoping to get in a free hit, Kumatora runs toward Ness, getting ready to hit him with another PK Brainshock, but Ness was able to get up before then. Kuma launched her attack just as Ness leapt away, perching himself on the icy floating platform.

Kumatora glares up at Ness before launching a PK Thunder towards him. Ness counters by using PK Shield, absorbing the thunderball and replenishing his own health.

"Come on down Ness!" Kuma yells, "I won't hurt you...much."

"No thanks, but how about you have a PK Thunder!" Ness launches his own thunderball and directs it towards Kumatora, who rolls backward to dodge, letting the ball crash into the ground.

When she rolls backward, Kumatora feels something bump against her, and upon looking finds that its a pokeball. Without a second thought, she grabs the large sphere and tosses it. The item bursts open on the ground right beneath Ness, letting a Snorlax come out.

"Snorlax!" it yells before (somehow) jumping straight upwards, headbutting Ness on the way up. The huge pokemon then comes right back down while somehow tripling in size, slamming the airborne Ness into the water.

If anyone thought that this water was just like any other, they were wrong. The instant Ness hit the water, his damage meter starts going up...the water is freezing cold, but at least there aren't any fish.

The boy quickly hops out of the water onto the ice, and his luck seemed to change when an Assist Trophy fell in front of him. Ness grins before plucking it up and holding it high, causing it to pop and release a rather beautiful woman into the fight.

She had long, pale blond hair, a blue dress that left her shoulders bare, and a long silver wand in her right hand. Floating around Rosalina are four Lumas in four colors; yellow, green, pink, and black.

With a faint gasp and a wave of her wand, the four Lumas began to spin around Rosalina. Assuming she had a few seconds before the trophy activated, Kuma ran towards Ness and tried to slap him again, but the boy bent out of the way to dodge, then counters by jabbing her in the gut with his foot.

Kuma slides back a little, then yells, "PK Ground!" as Ness ran towards her. Several stalagmites erupt from the ground on both sides of the teen, and they would've repelled Ness had Rosalina not decided on an effect.

The Lumas had stopped with the yellow one floating in front of her. The Luma floated for a second before chirping and flying into Ness, giving him invincibility. Rosalina smiles before vanishing with her other Lumas, leaving Ness to charge through the defenses and push Kuma towards the lava with a PK push.

Now luck was kind to Kumatora, as the stage began to change again a split-second before she hit the molten rock. Once it was done, now there was lava everywhere. Up in the sky burned two giant balls of magma, all around the rock that formed the lower level was lava, and finally, there were a few small rock platforms floating in the air. This is the Melty Molten form.

Instead of landing in the scalding lava, Kumatora landed on the lower level, while Ness jumps up to a higher platform.

"PK Pulse!" The boy yells, releasing a green blob of energy from his head, and using every amount of concentration he has to keep it floating towards Kumatora.

Kumatora was able to get up and launch a PK Thunder attack, aiming to break Ness' concentration before she gets blown up. Her thunderball strikes Ness, but the second _after_ his pulse triggers, blowing Kumatora over the left boundary.

The teen comes back on the revival pad, and she quickly hops down to strike Ness with another PK Brainshock. The young boy was knocked senseless again, and he would've gotten smashed with a PK Ground had a Smash Ball not flown by and distracted Kumatora. Leaving Ness to deal with his headache, Kuma chases after the ball, leaping in the air and slamming it downward with a kick.

The ball floats down below her, and to strike it again, she hits herself with PK Thunder. Barreling downward like a missile, Kumatora headbutts the Smash Ball, but still doesn't break it.

By now, Ness had shaken off the dizziness and saw Kumatora attacking the Smash Ball. Hoping to win without losing a life, Ness goes charging for the ball as it start to float towards him. Then, with no warning, a giant spurt of lava erupts from below, cutting Ness off from the Smash Ball and Kumatora...by the time it subsided, Kuma was on the neighboring platform, a devious smirk on her face and her body shining in a rainbow.

"Later Ness, PK..." she pauses while spinning a little, "Starstorm!" The stage rumbles while a shooting star, glowing pink in color, roars straight down behind Kuma, then a second goes by just behind Ness.

Then the crowd of stars catches up and shooting stars start flying everywhere. Ness was able to dodge a few, but then got hammered by a quick one and knocked upwards. After ricocheting off of not one other star but _three_ others, Ness finally loses a stock by flying across the horizon, returning while Kuma's attack ended and the stage began to change again...

* * *

"Oh come on!" Wolf complains. "_Another_ PK Starstorm?" he turns on Lucas, "Don't you shrimps have any other powerful moves?"

"Yes we do." Lucas replies, his voice even more timid than usual since it was Wolf glaring him down. "Perhaps my Final Smash and Ness' changed for this tournament, like Falco's."

"The kid's got a point Wolf. Now back off."

"You want to make me? Bird?" Wolf spits.

"Both of you quiet down." Krystal orders, holding her staff between the two men. "If you want to pummel one another, do it once these matches are over, not before."

Wolf and Falco grumble before turning away from the other to watch the match.

* * *

By now the stage had assumed its Honeyhive form, which greatly resembled the Battlefield stage if someone put a big hole in the middle of the bottom platform. Kuma had managed to get her hands on a Beam Sword and was currently using to slash at Ness from one side of the hole while he was over on the other. The young teen was barely dodging each of her slashes, and his damage meter was currently at 45 percent.

Finally getting tired of this meaningless dodging, Ness rolls backward to get out of range and happens to brush against a pokeball. Hoping it would be something useful, Ness quickly slams the ball into the ground, and out pops...Jirachi. While most would think that a pokemon that doesn't do anything but fly would be worthless, Jirachi happens to drop several of Ness' favorite items on its way out...little flaps of paper.

She has no idea what made those papers so important, but if Ness' eyes lit up and he jumped after them instead of counter-attacking, Kumatora assumes that they must be worth something. She too jumps for them, but was only able to grab about three of the eleven that Jirachi left behind.

With all of the stickers gone, Ness turns his attention back to the confused Kumatora and was able to get in a cheap shot with his bat.

The two exchange a few more blows before a new Smash Ball appears. Hoping for a little payback, Ness catches Kumatora in a wisp of his PK Fire, then hurries towards the ball, headbutting it in the middle of a jump. This knocked the ball from above the middle platform to over the left half of the lower one, and Ness chases after it before punching it. He was able to break the ball with his yo-yo before Kumatora could process what was going on.

"Time for you to take a hit!" Ness yells, "PK..." his voices trails off as his body curls up and long strands of yellow light begin to spin around him. Suddenly they all align into rings while he yells, "Rockin!"

The rings explode away from Ness all at once, flying in six directions at amazing speeds. Kumatora was able to jump between two of the pieces, but Ness had quickly released a second wave, then a third. Kuma was pounded hard by the second wave, and the third knocked her out over the abyss, but thanks to a well controlled PK Thunder, she was able to grab onto the ledge and climb back up.

Ness meanwhile, was just finishing the little pause he took to recover from such a discharge of PSI energy, and had turned to see Kuma climb back up on the far side of the field. Even better was that the Beam Sword she had was sitting right next to him, its neon-blue blade ready for the last strike. Eagerly, Ness grabs the sword and charges for Kumatora as an Assist Trophy appears next to her.

Kuma was just barely able to open it in time to release Rosalina to the field again, and leans out of the way of Ness' slash. Kuma counters by giving him another dose of PK Brainshock, then slaps him once again. This time, she follows up with a PK Ground, which sends Ness flying away just long enough for Rosalina to pick a Luma...this time its the black one.

The black Luma releases what was more like a weird grunt than that of a chirp like his friends, then suddenly flies into Rosalina. Using his power, Rosalina holds her hand up high and gasps, suddenly causing (more or less) an advanced form of PK Starstorm. From all corners of the stage come smaller, faster, neon-blue comets, all going in random directions and making it very hard for Ness to stay alive.

Actually, he doesn't. Ness was struck by several of the comets and tossed over the left boundary, losing his last stock and giving Kumatora her first win.

* * *

Both of the young fighters reappear on their panels in the Brawl Room, just a little sore from their match. Surprisingly, Kumatora showed almost no signs of Smash Sickness, a little swaying and a small headache was all...she was lucky.

"Well Kumatora," Ness says while leaving his panel, "Good match." He extends a hand which is gently shaken by the princess.

"Thanks, you want another butt kicking, come back."

"Hey I almost won."

Kumatora laughs before rustling the top of Ness' head, "Almost isn't good enough."

"Excuse – me," says a toneless robo-voice. The two kids turn to see one of the green ROB units standing in front of them. "I – have – your – stickers." The robot rolls up to Ness and hands over one of two metal cases it held.

"Stickers?" Kumatora asks while accepting her case.

"That's what those little papers were that the pokemon left behind." Ness eagerly replies before opening his case to see what he got, "Ooo...I got a Riolu sticker, those are rare."

"So those little slips that we collect in the match..."

"Are one way of earning these cool little collectibles. Its really fun, and Master Hand even has a bunch of challenges for you to earn the extremely rare ones!" The pre-teen boy finishes.

With little else to do, Kumatora opens her case to see three stickers waiting for her, one of a pokeball, one of the pink hedgehog from a few fights ago, and one of a small round white thing that resembled a ghost.

"Sorry Kuma, none of those are really valuable...especially not the Boo."

"The Boo?" She repeats.

"Yea, come on, I'll tell you all about this sticker thing on our way downstairs."

A minute later, and Ness and Kumatora have joined Lucas on one of the smaller couches, the two thirteen year olds excitedly telling the fifteen year old all about stickers.

_Attention all, it is time for a ye olde style of Clash now._ Master announces, trying to keep things from getting stale, _We're having a battle between two swordsmen...will Lloyd and Ike please repeat to the Brawl Room for your match. Repeat, it is time for a match between Lloyd and Ike._

Both swordsmen get up and leave for the Brawl Room, Lloyd lagging behind only because Colette wanted to bid him good luck.

The two swordsmen stand atop their panels and turn to one another. "Guess we'll get our Clash after all...hope you're strong, Ragnell inflicts some serious pain."

"We'll see about that...Vorpal and Flameburge aren't as strong as Ragnell, but they do have...other abilities." Lloyd leaves his sentence at that, turning to the button and pressing it without another word.

Ike, curious as to what Lloyd has in store, presses his button as well, ready for anything as the Smash System digitizes them into the arena...which was like something from history.

To put it simply, the stage was like the Roman Coliseum from Earth. The background had a similar design to that monument, and there was even huge grandstands filled to the brim with cheering people. The stage itself consisted of a wide flat piece of land in the arena part of the coliseum, no slopes, no holes, no platforms, about as basic as you could get. But this wasn't the Roman Coliseum...this is the Meltokio Coliseum, and though neither fighter knew it, this stage had some nasty secrets in store.

* * *

Over on the left side of the arena, two rings of light with a fancy design inside appear, which somehow bring Ike into the battle, Ragnell held in both hands. Over on the right, some odd looking flying machine (like a mechanic bird) flies by, and off the top leaps Lloyd, who lands with one knee down. As he stands he unsheathes both swords and gets ready for Ike's move.

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

_FIGHT!_

**

* * *

**

I should probably mention that I had no idea as to how old Ness or Kumatora (or Lucas for that matter) are, but thanks to Double Dee Edd Boy for giving me enough information on both their personalities and for advising me that making Ness and Lucas thirteen and Kumatora fifteen is a good estimate. Also, Soren's fight is coming up, so if any of you have any info on him, personality-wise, please help out! He's the last person that I need help with!


	16. Mercenary vs Hero

Chapter 16 Mercenary vs. Hero

Ike swings Ragnell around in his hands while taking in Lloyd's movements and the surrounding stage, keeping an eye open for any tricks. Numerous painful battles from the Brawl tournament has taught him to be cautious...at least against a new opponent.

"Anytime you're ready Ike." Lloyd calls from the other side of the stage.

"You'll regret giving me the first move kid." Ike retorts, quickly charging towards Lloyd, Ragnell pulled back for a swing.

Lloyd only smirks before swinging one of his swords around, yelling out, "Demon Fang!" in the process.

The blade of the sword scrapes along the ground from the swing, but as it comes up a wave of yellow energy gets released and starts flying towards Ike. Despite being surprised, the stockier swordsman was still able to hop over the attack and swing his sword around horizontally.

Lloyd attempts to defend with just one sword, but Ike was far too strong and easily smashes through Lloyd's defense, shoving the younger fighter back several feet.

"_Okay...that didn't work...lets see if I can rush him._" Lloyd thinks before charging towards Ike, both swords drawn back for a double slash. Unfortunately, Lloyd never gets to attack. Ike brings Ragnell down from above, forcing Lloyd to put his swords together in an 'X' shape to catch the larger blade.

"Damn...you're stronger than I thought." Lloyd grunts, doing his best to hold back the bigger man's attack.

Ike releases a gruff laugh, "You'll find that I'm full of surprises."

Suddenly the large man leaps backwards, then stands in place with his sword drawn back behind him. Lloyd has no idea what attack this could be, so he readies himself for anything.

A second passes before Ike rushes forward at speeds that seemed impossible for such a big man, leaving Lloyd with no time to block. The red-clad swordsman is slashed across his chest and tossed back several feet, but luckily for him a new item appears right at his side.

It was easy for Lloyd to recognize, he had seen it hundreds if not thousands of times before in Sylvarant...a Pow Hammer with a jungle green head, the only difference being that it looks bigger than the ones Colette could summon.

The younger swordsman quickly sheathes his blades before lifting the hammer up with both hands, then shoots Ike a quick smirk before starting to swing the implement wildly around. While Lloyd began his approach, Ike quickly starts backing up...it was a new hammer that Lloyd has in his hands, but he knows how painful all of the hammer weapons could be.

Unfortunately for the stocky man, he bumps into...something while backing up, then feels a tentacle lash across his back and knock him forward. Ike lands face-up, glancing where he was to see...well, to be honest it looked like a small octopus with a jar over its head.

That didn't matter though, since the hammer Lloyd has quickly pounds into Ike's gut, both hurting him and causing a flower to sprout from the top of his head. Lloyd pounds the swordsman three more times before the hammer vanishes, but had caused the flower to grow from a tiny sprout into a giant bloom, and Ike's percent meter was shooting up at an incredible rate.

The mercenary juts his foot out to kick Lloyd away, then stands while ripping the flower off...but quickly gets slapped again by the octopus thing. The small creature made a big mistake, since Ike spins around and slashes it across the jar, causing it to roll over backwards and fade away.

"Since when do sea creatures walk around on land?" Ike grumbles, turning back to his opponent, who was just getting up.

"That creature is called a Sea Monk, and its quite a pest on my homeworld." Lloyd replies. "I'd imagine that if Master Hand created those things, he made others."

"What makes you say that?"

"In the Meltokio Coliseum, warriors battle monsters, both weak and strong." Lloyd answers, just before charging the large man and hitting him with a stab of the sword. That wasn't the interesting part, after Lloyd's attack connects a strong gust of wind blows against Ike, lifting the man up into the air before pushing him back.

"Swords and magic huh?" Ike growls. "Hyah!" He yells, then charges up to Lloyd before smacking the teen into the air with an upper slice from Ragnell. "Aether!" Ike adds, jumping after Lloyd, then grabs the spinning sword before plunging down, pounding Lloyd into the ground and his damage meter to almost the triple digits.

Of course, Aether knocked Lloyd onto his back while Ike landed upright, and once the younger man stood up, he got slashed with the golden blade. Ike brings Ragnell down for another slash, then brings his leg up and kicks Lloyd right in the gut, throwing the young man back over to the right end of the stage.

Once again, luck decides to shine on Lloyd, seeing as how an Assist Trophy was waiting for the young man as he got up. Lloyd quickly grabs the object and holds it up high, then it releases someone who probably could've been called Donkey Kong's crazy uncle.

He was a gorilla, with a white undershirt, blue jean shorts, a bandanna tied round his head and sunglasses on. Funky Kong screeches before pounding his chest, somehow calling in a barrel plane that he boards before going flying towards Ike. The swordsman dives to avoid getting run over, dodging the crazy ape by mere inches, but Funky proves to be a persistent gorilla.

His plane performs a wide bank before Funky comes barreling right back at Ike, but misses again by just an inch. Lloyd, deciding to take advantage of the distraction Funky provided, quickly runs up to Ike before releasing a burst of energy, which was more than strong enough to toss the stockier swordsman into the air and all Funky needed to finally hit his target.

Getting hit by a barrel-plane was no picnic, and it tossed Ike a fair distance towards the left boundary. The mercenary groaned as he lay there on the ground, sprawled out on his back, before trying to get up. He was moving slowly, but his pace quickly leaps to a speed that rivaled Sonic once he sees Funky careening straight towards him, completely out of control.

Ike dives out of the way, causing Funky to miss and crash his plane right into the ground, but it still explodes and causes some damage to the large man. Now that the gorilla is finally out of the picture, Ike was free to focus on Lloyd, and manages to spot the smaller man with enough time to block a double slash.

Vorpal and Flameberge collide against Ragnell with a resounding clang, but Ike didn't just pull off a simple block...the instant that Lloyd's swords slammed into Ike's and stopped, Ike brought Ragnell around and countered with a perfect parry, one so powerful that it threw the younger man back towards the midway point of the stage.

Lloyd groans from the strong hit and opens his eyes to see Ike high up in the air above him. The red-clad swordsman gasps and quickly moves away, expecting Ike to come plunging down on him from above, but he never does. What Ike was doing up there became apparent as Lloyd felt a large something collide with his back and send him for a flight.

Lloyd tumbles end over end in the air, and manages to get a glance at what rammed him during one of the times he was upside-down. It was a classic example of a Sphinx: big, quadrupedal, golden armor down its back and around its face, and a pair of giant wings sprouting out of its body, just behind the shoulders. Sadly the next thing Lloyd saw was a flash of light as he exploded past the right boundary before reappearing up in the air on a revival pad.

Playing it smart, Lloyd waits for the Sphinx to leave before hopping down, and quickly slams Ike with a Double Demon Fang as he lands from a double jump.

"Your attacks are pretty good kid, too bad I've got the advantage in stock," Ike smugly says, weathering the Demon Fangs before running towards Lloyd.

Suddenly the lighting dims while a Smash Ball appears between the two sword-wielders. "That should help even the odds," Lloyd mutters before suddenly leaping into the air and spinning like a buzz saw, holding both blades out and slashing both Ike and the Smash Ball.

He doesn't break it, but he does severely damage the glowing sphere and toss Ike away. With a single Demon Fang, Lloyd breaks the ball and feels its power begin to surge through him. _Oh yea...this should be more than enough power for that move..._ Lloyd thinks before noticing Ike charging towards him, anxious to separate teen from ball.

Right when Ike is about stab Lloyd with Ragnell, the rainbow aura surges into Lloyd's body, or his swords to be more accurate, then he slams Vorpal and Flameberge together, fusing them into a much large blade that had a purple glow to it; the Eternal Sword.

When the mighty blade was created, a powerful wave of light erupted out of it and stunned Ike before Lloyd gave a mighty leap and went soaring into the sky. Once he got up to a good height, Lloyd flips the powerful weapon around so its blade tip was pointing down, then he begins falling.

The Eternal Sword slams into the ground, sending huge fissures out in several directions before the lands erupts in a huge blast of light, so powerful the Ike was blown away instantly.

The stage restores itself to perfect condition while Lloyd wrenches his sword out of the ground, whereupon it immediately splits apart, back into Vorpal and Flameberge. Just as Ike touches down from his jump from the revival pad, Lloyd suddenly falls down to one knee while beginning to pant.

"You okay kid?" Ike asks.

"Y-yea, Falcon's Crest always takes a lot out of me," Lloyd wheezes before he strains back to his feet, "Its nothing I can't handle."

"Good, because I'm ready to end this match," Ike replies before dashing right up to Lloyd and slashing him across the chest, before following up with a powerful stab.

* * *

"Come on Lloyd, I know that you can do it!" Colette cheers, hoping her hardest for him to win.

"You know Colette, Ike's really difficult. Not only is he strong, but he's very determined and stubborn," Peach says, "It takes a lot of strength to stop him once he's set his sights on winning."

"Oh don't worry Peach, Lloyd can easily handle Ike. He's taken on Sphinxes, Fenrirs, Urals, Harpies, and even Kratos without yielding...Ike is nothing," Colette replies.

Peach only stares at the other blond, having no idea what any of the things Colette mentioned even were. Fenrirs? Urals? Kratos? None of those words had ever touched Peach's ears before, she'd have to ask about them later.

"Okay Colette, I'll just have to take your word for it," Peach says. That was all she could, she was too confused about what Colette seemed to assume was common knowledge.

Peach's answer seems to satisfy the angel, since Colette gives her royal friend a big grin before turning back to the screen.

* * *

Lloyd had managed to land several powerful hits on Ike, but a temperamental Wasp that came fluttering in managed to stab Lloyd several times with its stinger and evened things out. Both of their damage meters are hovering just above the 110 mark, and had their swords locked together in a stalemate.

Lloyd was doing his best to hold back Ragnell, but after using up so much energy to use Falcon's Crest and then getting stung several times really tired him out, and the gold blade was continually threatening to break his defense.

Just before Ragnell was about to break through, the lighting dimmed again while another Smash Ball warped in...and at the damage levels Lloyd and Ike are at, whoever got its power would win the match.

Ike normally wasn't the fastest of men, but he was able to outpace a tired Lloyd to the Smash Ball and hit the sphere with a strong swing. The ball cracks and gets tossed down into the ground, where it bounces right back up before getting slashed again. Ragnell quickly follows up with a stab before the ball breaks and bathes the sword's owner in its rainbow aura.

"Tough luck Lloyd, but it looks like I've won." Ike smugly says as he turns around.

The red-clad swordsman does nothing to counter...he was too tired, and Smash Sickness was starting to creep into his muscles and make him incredibly sore. Within a second, Ike was in his face and struck Lloyd with powerful sword swing, knocking him into the air.

"Great..." Ike starts, leaping after Lloyd and beginning to unleash a flurry of fiery sword slashes and the occasional punch and kick, before continuing with, "AETHER!"

After maybe fifteen or so strikes, Ike ends it, pulling Ragnell behind his head, then slamming it down on top of Lloyd, bringing both of them down into the ground in a fiery meteor. They hit, there's an explosion, and Lloyd is tossed above the top boundary and explodes, winning the match for Ike.

* * *

They both re-appear in the Brawl Room, Ike was perfectly fine, but Lloyd was hunched over. Nearly every muscle in his body was sore and his energy was all gone...Falcon's Crest sure was a powerful move, but it severely drained him afterwards.

"You alright kid?" Ike asks. As gruff as he was, the guy did have a heart when it came to other swordsmen.

"I will be," Lloyd replies before grunting, "I just need to rest...to be honest, I haven't used Falcon's Crest in a long time, so it hurts more than it usually does."

"You want any help downstairs?"

"I wouldn't mind, but you don't have too."

Regardless of the option to not help, Ike still hefts an arm around the teen's back and supports him as the two walk out of the room and down the stairs. Most of the smashers begin congratulating Lloyd on the fight, but Colette was staying silent, looking down into her lap as she sat on one of the couches.

Ike helps Lloyd over to his friend and down onto the couch. Just as he sat down, a pain flare suddenly erupted in his arm, causing him to gasp.

"Lloyd! Are you okay?!" Colette quickly asks.

"Y-yea, I'll be fine," Lloyd replies, "Just have to get used to Falcon's Crest again, that's all."

"Don't sound so defeated Lloyd, you gave it your best shot."

"The girl's got a point Lloyd," Ike comments, drawing their attention to him, "The stage was able to do some damage, but you do have some impressive moves. If you weren't so weakened after your final smash, you may have just won." Ike then shoots Lloyd a cocky smile, "I wouldn't be surprised if you happen to win in our next match."

Lloyd returns the smile with a nod before he sinks down into the cushions of the couch. Ike hangs around for a second before moving away to a chair beside Marth. "So you do have a bit of softer side." Marth comments.

"Meh, I really wasn't going to say anything, but Colette looked upset that her friend didn't win...you know from Brawl that I can't stand seeing a girl upset, no matter how rough I am." Ike counters, leaning back in his chair and closing both eyes, giving himself a bit of a rest.

**

* * *

**

You're probably asking yourself this right about now. "What gives? Where's the introduction for the next fight?" Ah well the answer is a bit complicated. To put simply, it is exhausting having to write fight after fight and with each one that goes by the quality seems to fall, so I'm going to propose a question to all of you readers. Okay, here goes...

**Would it be alright with you all if I just skip to the last of the introductory fights? This fight happens to be Sonic vs. Shadow, and if you're going to say no because one of your favorite characters hasn't fought yet, I've got that covered. Any fights that get skipped will be posted up in a separate collection, and I will alert you all about it whenever it does start.**

**Just leave behind your answer in your review. If more people tell me to skip ahead, I'll skip ahead and conversely, if more don't want me to then I won't. Go ahead and choose whichever one you want, I won't hold your choice against you.**

**Oh, and by the way, those monsters that Colette listed are actual monsters from the game (or at least, Dawn of the New World) and Kratos is the big bad guy from the original Tales of Symphonia. And the Sea Monk monster really does look like an octopus with a jar stuck on its head, same with the Sphinx creature being covered in gold armor and having big wings.**


	17. Renowned Hero vs Ultimate Life Form

**Oh thank you! Thank you all for letting me skip ahead. Okay, you may be saying, wow that was a quick update, but to be honest, the ideas for this fight have floating around in my head for weeks, so it was super-easy writing it. I also spruced this chapter up a bit with some more spectator commentory and finally a nice little closing scene.**

**Also, since I haven't said this in a awhile, I own absolutely nothing and no-one that is here apart from the mansion. All characters are property of their respective owners/companies.**

* * *

Chapter 17 Renowned Hero vs. Ultimate Life-Form

Zelda and Midna enter the living room, both were walking tall, but panting heavily from the match. Zelda collapses into an armchair beside Link, while Midna claims part of the couch beside Mewtwo.

_Hmm...guess that would just leave Shadow to fight._ Lucario thinks to himself, having mentally kept track of those who have gone and who haven't.

To confirm the pokemon's thoughts, Master's voice seeps through the speakers yet again. "_Attention all, it is time for our final introduction match. Competing on a stage that caters to both of their strengths is Shadow the Hedgehog..._"

From his isolated corner of the room, the coal-black hedgehog starts walking toward the doorway, not making a single sound apart from the shuffling of his shoes on the carpet. Those piercing crimson eyes didn't so much as glance back to the others, since he really didn't care who would go up against him. That changed in a flash once he heard the rest of Master's announcement.

"_and his opponent is the blue blur himself, Sonic the Hedgehog!_"

Shadow froze in his tracks at the name of his opponent. His red gaze turned around and locked directly onto the emerald gaze coming from Sonic. The instant the gazes met, an eerie hush fell over the room, and being sensitive to emotions, Lucario could literally feel the rivalry between the two

"Alright Shadow," Sonic begins as he gets out of his seat and approaches his black doppelganger. "Guess we've finally got the rematch of our dreams."

"Yes we do, don't we?" Shadow asks, his voice having a hint of malice, "Now I can beat your sorry blue ass at full power, without having to worry about killing you."

"Gee I didn't know you cared." Sonic sarcastically replies, walking right past Shadow and starting for the stairs.

Once both hedgehogs are up the stairs and out of sight, everyone let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. Lucario sighs as he relaxes into the cushions of the couch he is sharing with Blaze. When Sonic said that he and Shadow are rivals, he wasn't kidding...the instant they heard they would fight, it was almost as if their own aura fields began to attack one another. One thing was for sure though, this fight would be intense.

* * *

Once the two hedgehogs sign in and get shot into their stage, both felt a hint of nostalgia. Before their very eyes, after Sonic bounces onto the stage as a ball and Shadow Chaos Controls in, was Space Colony ARK.

Well...almost. The colony itself is hanging ominously in the air above the upper boundary, the hedgehogs are standing on the ARK Causeway...the same bridge where they fought tooth and nail several years ago, Sonic trying to stop the Eclipse Cannon from firing and Shadow trying to stop Sonic.

The bridge is a perfect duplicate, same bluish metal, same bright yellow strip down the middle, there are even the railings glowing an electric yellow with red stripes, and it is divided into five sections, just like before. Master Hand has even gone as far as to put chunks of the ARK's debris in the background, but as far as the stage was concerned, it was just them on the causeway...it was like the two have taken a step backwards in time.

"Well well well, don't this bring back memories?" Sonic asks Shadow from across the field, he was on the left and Shadow over on the right.

"It sure does, and its quite a fitting place for me to beat you to a pulp." Shadow replies, getting himself ready as the announcer's "Ready" drifts through his ears.

"Can't wait to see ya try." Sonic retorts, waiting only until the "FIGHT!" was yelled to go charging at Shadow.

About halfway, Sonic curls himself into a ball and Spin Dashes straight towards Shadow, but misses as the umber hedgehog uses Chaos Control to teleport behind his attack.

Shadow counters by jutting out his arm while yelling "Chaos, Spear!" From his palm and around his wrist erupt half a dozen arrows composed of dirty-gold energy, all of them whizzing straight at Sonic's back.

Having learned countless times what that battle-cry meant, Sonic quickly uncurls, summons a spring pad, and leaps up into the air, dodging the arrows by a few feet. The blue hedgehog twists himself around in midair to face Shadow, before plunging down at him, foot stuck out for a kick.

Shadow bends himself around Sonic's foot before grabbing the other hedgehog by the ankle, then spins around and tosses Sonic away to the left half of the field.

"You're getting sloppy Sonic," Shadow comments, merely standing there facing his opponent. "I'm not holding anything back, but if you are this is going to be a disappointing match."

"Just getting myself warmed up." Sonic replies, quickly getting back to his feet.

Shadow lets a smirk reveal itself before suddenly darting forward and at an incredible speed, his fist pulled back for a punch.

The umber hedgehog's fist gets thrown, but misses as Sonic leans out of the way, then pulls his leg up and around to kick Shadow across the face. Before he could recover, Sonic quickly follows up with a kick to the should from his other leg then a punch that catches Shadow in the chest.

Shadow staggers backward from the hit, but is able to dodge another Spin Dash by teleporting behind Sonic again. Not letting Shadow get an upper hand, Sonic manages to spin himself around to come in for another charge.

Since he needs a few seconds between Chaos Controls, his teleport trick isn't available, but instead Shadow does something even more incredible. He readies himself, watching the rolling blue boulder that is Sonic as he approaches, then, just as Sonic is about to land a hit, Shadow juts out his knee and breaks Sonic out of his Spin Dash, sending the blue hedgehog up into the air.

The coal-black hedgehog leaps after his rival, landing several punches to Sonic's gut before double jumping above him and plunging down as a spinning meteor.

The whole crowd of spectators wince as Sonic gets slammed into the metal bridge beneath Shadow. The umber hedgehog bounces back up from the impact and moves to land a few feet away from the sprawled out Sonic.

* * *

"Yeesh," Ashe grunts, "Shadow's brutal."

"Not to mention powerful, it isn't easy breaking that spiky speedster out of his spins." Wolf comments.

"And he can fling those energy arrow things." Luigi adds.

"They're called Chaos Spears hun," Rouge corrects, "If you think that's impressive, than you ain't seen anything yet."

"The bat's right, Shadow hasn't pulled out his biggest trick yet." Blaze adds.

Sheik winces as Shadow's foot slams Sonic across the face. "Sonic's in trouble if Shadow's got more planned."

Knuckles laughs, "Sonic's actually the only one who can really stand against Shadow. My guess is that he's biding his time."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see." Pikachu comments from atop Samus' shoulder.

* * *

While Shadow may have been pounding Sonic, the blue hedgehog was fighting back, and landing a few good hits of his own. From all of their fights, Sonic learned to wait for Shadow to reveal a hole in his armor, to wait until just the right moment.

However, the stage has other ideas. A deep rumbling fills their ears and both turn to see a meteor barreling right at the stage! Both of them leap to opposite ends of the stage, just as the meteor strikes the middle of the causeway, exploding in a large fireball and actually causing that part of the stage to drop away, leaving a big hole in the middle.

Surprisingly, Sonic begins to laugh. "That makes it official, this _is_ just like old times." he comments before curling down and spinning in place.

Shadow doesn't reply but pulls off the same thing, curling down into a spinning black ball with a yellow energy field around him.

The two quickly speed up to their max before shooting clear towards each other and the hole. Right before they roll off, both leap into the air, colliding perfectly in the middle and bouncing apart while uncurling.

Now floating just a few feet apart over the big hole, Sonic quickly lunges toward Shadow, spinning his body around like a corkscrew. His head rams into the coal hedgehog's gut, deals plenty of damage, then throws Shadow back to the right half of the stage...of course now he's plummeting down into the hole.

Just as his chest comes level with the bridge surface, Sonic springs back into the air off a spring pad and lands on Shadow's half of the causeway. The blue hedgehog lands down on one knee, but gets up in a split-second, ready to fight off a Shadow he thought for sure would've been charging for him...but the sight that really met his eyes was even worse...

...Shadow's red highlights were _glowing_.

The coal black hedgehog stands for a fraction of a second before flying towards Sonic, who quickly turns tail and leaps for the other half of the bridge. Using his double jump, Sonic was able to make it, but Shadow is right behind him, literally.

The umber hedgehog slams his heel into the back of Sonic's head, forcing him down to the ground. Sonic groans from the blow to his head, but all that follows is Shadow grabbing him by the leg and throwing him back into the air, and leaving him to helplessly flail around as he reaches the peak of the toss before falling again.

_No way to dodge it, guess I just have to brace it._ Sonic quickly thinks while doing his best to brace against the inevitable.

Down below, Shadow had drawn his arms and legs in while floating in place, his entire body beginning to glow with a red aura. "Chaos..." he drones, the aura getting more and more intense, "BLAST!"

Suddenly the red aura erupts away from Shadow in a massive explosion, slamming into the falling blue hedgehog and knocking him back into the air. Despite depleting himself a little to cause the explosion, Shadow still leaps above Sonic before front-flipping and delivering a solid kick the Sonic's gut, throwing him back down into the ground.

* * *

"Holy shot," Falco mumbles, keeping himself from cursing only because of the kids around, "Shadow freaking explodes?!"

"Told you he had more." Rouge matter-of-factly says. "Shadow's definitely no pushover."

"You can say that again," Ganondorf comments, "No way is he easy to beat."

"Well he isn't called the "Ultimate Life-Form" for nothing." Rouge replies, rolling her eyes as she says Shadow's title.

"Well if he explodes, throws Chaos Spears, and teleports, not to mention being a dark-copy of Sonic, what the hell is his Final Smash going to be?" Snake asks, not showing the same restraint as Falco.

"I don't know...Shadow does have plenty of other talents, but I'm not sure what he's picked."

"_We may find out soon,_" echoes Mewtwo's wise voice in everyone's minds, "_A Smash Ball has just appeared._"

* * *

Just like the pokemon said...err...thought, a Smash Ball had indeed appeared, floating a dangerously low distance over the hole in the causeway.

Shadow appears to have the upper hand, what with Sonic lying on the ground behind him like a cheap rug, and while he didn't want to go jumping for something in that dangerous of a spot, it was close enough for Shadow to score a few hits with another Chaos Spear attack.

Just as Shadow pulls his hand back to launch out another wave and break the Smash Ball, Sonic suddenly leaps clear over him, double jumps to the hole, then uses a Homing Attack to fly at the ball and tackle it. The orb shatters and fuses with Sonic, causing the hedgehog to obtain a rainbow glow as he starts falling down the hole.

Just before he crosses the lower boundary, Sonic uses the power of the Smash Ball to form seven fake Chaos Emeralds, then absorbs them while yelling, "Now I'll show you!" The power of the jewels forces Sonic to transform into his golden furred, red-eyed Super Sonic form.

Super Sonic charges clear out of the hole, pulls a loop-de-loop in midair, then rushes straight at Shadow. The umber hedgehog uses a Chaos Control to teleport out of the way, but the only direction to go was up. Once he reappears, he begins falling and was unable to use Chaos Control again to get away...meaning he was now an easier target for Super Sonic.

The golden hedgehog spins around and tackles Shadow from behind, knocking him over towards the pit. Luckily for him, a new piece was quickly growing out of the parts next to it...of course, it didn't really matter since Super Sonic rams him again.

The blow tosses Shadow down at an angle, causing him to hit the right half of the stage, bounce, slam again and skid a foot or so. He shakes off the blows and starts to stand, but another Super Sonic tackle prevents that and tosses the umber hedgehog over the right boundary. He returns on a revival pad, but patiently waits for Sonic to split from the artificial emeralds and revert to his normal, weakened self before leaving.

* * *

"What in the world was that?" Ashe asks.

"Chaos Emeralds," Blaze replies, "Seven jewels of mythical power that have existed on Mobius since the dawn of time. Despite all of the power they give off, only certain mobians can wield them. Sonic's one and Shadow happens to be another."

"So Shadow has a form like Super Sonic?" Diddy asks.

"Super Shadow. His black fur turns platinum, but his red highlights are unchanged," Rouge explains, "He might've picked that for his Final Smash, or something else. We just have to..." Rouge is cut off when an explosion blasts out of the speakers. "What happened?"

"Sonic just got blown off the stage by another of Shadow's Chaos Blasts," Meta says, "Not surprising considering his meter was almost at 210 before the attack."

"210?!" Mario exclaims more than asks, "Damn...in Brawl, Sonic rarely got over 130 without being taken out. Either he's gotten better at living, or Shadow's having fun pounding on him."

"Well those two have been rivals since they met. Now that they can beat the tar out of one another without having to worry about actually hurting the other, wouldn't you want to dish out some punishment?" Knuckles asks.

"But still..." Lucas weakly says, nervous about such a dangerous mobian staying at the mansion, "210...that's high."

"Of course that was then," Fox points out, "Now those two are back at zero." A loud smack rings out as Sonic strikes Shadow with a Capsule. "Well, they _were_ both at zero..."

* * *

True, they were at zero, but after a flurry of punches and kicks, plus a few slashes from a Beam Sword; Sonic is at 67 and Shadow at 82. Despite his higher percentage and the hard blows Sonic was dishing out, Shadow was barely showing any signs of slowing down...if anything, the blows were only encouraging the black hedgehog into pushing himself even harder.

Currently the two are starring each other down, Shadow on the inner-left piece and Sonic over on the far-right piece, the inner-right piece had been knocked out by another meteor.

"That's it Sonic, keep trying. I want my victory over you to be satisfying." Shadow declares before yelling "Chaos Spear!" and flinging more of the yellow projectiles.

Sonic jumps over the bolts, double jumps to the other side of the pit, then lands and Spin Dashes at Shadow. In an instant Shadow starts his own Spin Dash and tears off towards Sonic. The two balls collide and bounce off each other, but the instant Sonic's Spin Dash was broken, the blue hedgehog re-curls into a ball and Homing Attacks into Shadow's gut, knocking him to the left.

That attack bounced Sonic into the air, providing the perfect angle for another Homing Attack that sends Shadow smashing into the metal bridge. Sonic was able to land behind his rival and quickly grab him before throwing him back into the ground again, then spinning down on top of Shadow.

After a few seconds of the painful crunch, Sonic revs up and tosses Shadow out towards the pit, but a Chaos Control saves the umber hedgehog. Then warps in an item that Shadow had to get...another Smash Ball, floating at the exact halfway point between him and Sonic.

Within a second, a blue and a black sphere are flying towards the rainbow one, but while Shadow uncurls and tries to punch the Smash Ball, Sonic uncurls and lands a kick to Shadow's gut that pushes the umber hedgehog away.

Shadow lands back by the pit, and with his face angled towards the rainbow orb, he could clearly see Sonic landed several punches on it. That's when another spherical item, this one a smaller pure white sphere with a red exclamation mark on it, lands in front of him.

"I've got no idea what you do," Shadow mumbles to himself while grabbing the new ball and running back towards Sonic, "But I hope you can stop him." He pulls his arm back before giving the ball a mighty throw, sending it directly towards Sonic.

Just as Sonic is about to land the final blow on the Smash Ball, Shadow's ball nails him right in the back. Opening up a huge sinkhole beneath the blue hedgehog. He falls in while the sinkhole closes up around him, pinning him within the Pitfall's trap.

This was all that Shadow needed to leap over and destroy the Smash Ball, letting its powers seep into him as his body glows in a rainbow. He turns around to face the stuck Sonic, who was trying to wriggle free of the trap.

"You know Sonic...there are a lot of things I could have picked for my Final Smash. Super Shadow, a Lightspeed Attack, Chaos Punishment, even a super-sized Chaos Blast...but there was one thing that I think defines me more than any of those." Shadow says while he extends a hand, poised and ready to snap, as the rainbow aura gets absorbed into him. "Chaos Control!"

He snaps, a bright light erupts from his body, but he's vanished when it fades. The blue hedgehog stops wriggling for a second and looks around, confused as to what Shadow could've picked...that is, he _was_ confused until a second passes and he notices the ground around him beginning to glow green. Sonic glances upward, his face falls, and his struggling returns at twice the pace, why? Simple...

...Shadow turned on the Eclipse Cannon, and the massive weapon is aimed right at Sonic's head.

Sonic's struggling eventually breaks him free of the trap, but it was too late. The cannon had already finished charging and quickly fired an enormous laser beam of pure green energy. The blast rips through the area where Shadow was standing, and since he was directly in front of Sonic, that meant the blue hedgehog took a direct hit from the mega-weapon.

* * *

Every jaw of every spectator limply drops as they watch Shadow's devastating Final Smash and the damage it was causing. 67 became 70 when Sonic got hit by the ball, but now it was rocketing way beyond anything they could have imagined...

70 became 114 in one second, the next it went to 166, then 203, 267, 304, 341, then finally 399 before the laser stopped. It lasted no longer than Lucario's Aura Storm, but dealt exponentially more damage.

"Ho-ly shit." Ganondorf says, his eyes wide from the destructive attack. "That was...just...damn..."

"Ah the Eclipse Cannon...haven't seen Shadow use that thing in awhile, eh Rouge?" Knuckles asks, "It still amazes me how powerful that thing is though...even though we've seen it fired a few times."

"You mean...that thing is _real_?!" Samus asks in shock.

"Very real, and both of the times its been fired, its been old Shadow whose pulled the trigger. First shot blew a good chunk off our moon, the next blew apart an alien-infested comet." Rouge replies.

"Ugh, that Shadow is one bad guy." Peach says in disgust.

"Well its not all his fault, he has...issues." Rouge counters, but quickly stops herself from saying Shadow's story. Its always been a sensitive thing for the umber hedgehog, and he really hates other people telling it.

"Clearly." Peach retorts.

"Pipe down both of you, the match hasn't ended yet." Lucario says, getting both of the women to stop.

* * *

While the Eclipse Cannon did deal a lot of damage to Sonic, there was virtually no knockback at all...meaning that while he was badly hurt, he wasn't dead.

Shadow reappears in another flash of light, a cocky, arrogant smirk that almost looked like a smile was plastered to his face. "So Sonic...what do you think of the Eclipse Cannon for _my_ Final Smash? True, it does take a while to charge and fire, and by then my opponents can easily get away if not trapped, but you must admit...it is me isn't it?"

"Yea, its totally you Shadow, you bad-ass. Bringing a mega-weapon in definitely fits, but I can't figure out how you fired the thing." Sonic wheezes.

"Duh Sonic, I used the power of the Smash Ball."

"No way is that the truth...the Smash Ball's power is in you and..."

"And I used myself to power the cannon."

"But how are you not weakened?"

Shadow raises a wrist and flicks the golden bracelet that was clasped around it. "Chaos limiters remember? I'm used to channeling huge amounts of energy...and now Sonic...its time _I _won." He curls down into a ball, revs up, then takes off for the injured Sonic in a flash of yellow.

Within a second Shadow collides with Sonic and half-a-second later, Sonic explodes past the upper boundary.

* * *

Both hedgehogs reappear on their panels, Shadow standing with his arms crossed, but Sonic was bent over a little, clearly sore from taking such a big hit.

"Well Shads...I guess you're the top hedgehog now," Sonic comments before popping his neck.

Shadow snorts at Sonic's nickname for him. "Maybe, but our rivalry isn't going to end here Sonic."

"You'd better believe it," The blue hedgehog replies with a smirk while beginning to leave, "I'll take my title back at some point, you just wait and see."

The two leave the Brawl Room, granted Sonic was moving a little slowly from the fight and didn't even get help from Shadow (not like Sonic would've accepted it anyway), descend the stairway, and re-enter the living room.

The blue hedgehog quickly collapses into a nearby armchair while the black one moves back to his corner in the far side of the room. Everyone that he passes gave the Ultimate Life-Form an uneasy smile, but he showed absolutely no signs of noticing the gestures...at least, not externally.

Shadow had passed a few others by the time he reached Lucario, and the pokemon took a quick scan of the hedgehog's aura to find something that surprised him. There was excitement and plenty of bitterness, no doubt from battling his rival, but beneath all of that Lucario saw a tiny flash of light-green...the color of disappointment.

_Shadow's disappointed?_ Lucario thought to himself as the hedgehog walked by. _In what? Sonic looked like he was fighting hard...no, if that was it then his disappointment would probably be bigger..._ While the pokemon pondered over this strange result, he failed to notice that with each person Shadow passed, the small light-green patch in his aura pulsed, a signal that the disappointment increased a little.

"_Congratulations for Shadow are in order for winning his introductory match, and now I have a few more announcements to make,_" Master Hand pauses while clearing his throat...or making a noise similar to that. "_First, the Smash System will be powering down for twenty-four hours to process that data it read on all of you newcomers. The Smash System actually records you during your fights and observes how you battle and your moves in order to create 'fakes' that it uses for the Stadium Challenges. Currently Blaze is the only one with a file, since the system was able to create one last night, but with this many new fighters the system has to power down to handle all of this new data. This leads me to my second announcement...tomorrow will be a free day. A chance for all of you to relax and get to better know one another. The adaptation period will begin in a few days so until then...enjoy yourselves!_"

A click signifies that the loudspeaker is switched off, and the crowd of smashers begin to get up and leave, anxious to spend a few hours well before the chefs finish dinner.

"Hey Lucario?" Blaze asks from beside the pokemon, "What did Master mean by 'adaptation period'?"

"Its just a fancy name he created for when the fights will begin for real. He calls it that because its when the newcomers will start adapting to having battle requests sent to them and to the rigors of the Smash System. Master has a bit of a dramatic side to him." Lucario explains.

"Oh...so how do you spend your free time?"

Lucario shrugs, "Either reading, playing a few of the games in the arcade, or maybe going out for a run."

"You run? How fast?"

"Not anywhere near as fast as Sonic can go, but if given enough room I can easily go to at least fifty, sixty m-p-h."

"Hmm...would you care to prove that?"

Lucario's ears flicker, "Is that a challenge I'm hearing?"

"Sure is, does the mansion have a running track?" Blaze asks, a confident smirk drawn over her face.

"I know of someplace better, come on." Lucario replies, gesturing towards the doorway back into the foyer.

The two work their way through the crowd and out the front door where Lucario leads Blaze around to the back of the mansion. Just behind the mansion was a large pool with plenty of changing stations, but beyond that was what Lucario was really talking about, a beautiful natural sight that stole Blaze's breath.

A bunch of hills. A bunch of rolling green hills that stretched out all the way to the horizon. There wasn't a single tree in sight to interrupt the sheet of green, which had beautiful ripples of a lighter green soaring through it whenever a breeze blows over the hills. Up above was the blue sky, with a small population of white clouds lazily drifting in various directions.

"Is this a good enough running track?" Lucario asks.

"Wouldn't take another one," Blaze replies, "Now lets see you try and keep up."

The regal feline quickly takes off with a small laugh, and soon she's followed by the larger pokemon. The two stay out running for an hour or so before returning to the mansion, getting dinner, and then turning in, anxious for tomorrow and whatever it may bring.

**

* * *

**

(sighes contently) Its nice knowing that I can finally move on with this story...just wait and see what random stuff I have planned for the next chapter. It should hopefully get a few chuckles out of the lot of ya.

**Oh, and just in case anyone cares, tomorrow (June 22) is my birthday.**


	18. A Not so Free Day

**Okay the randomness I promised only applies to parts of this chapter, but the lesser parts should still be enjoyable. Also, to anyone who believes Crazy Hand is truly insane, I've got a bit of a dissappointment...in this story, he's actually somewhat sane, but still a little nuts. You'll see what I mean...**

* * *

Chapter 18 A Not-so Free Day

Just like always, Lucario allows the fake sunlight to rouse him from sleep before rolling over to check the clock. _7:29?_ The pokemon mentally asks himself while observing the gentle blue glow of the numbers, _Oh darn it...no pre-breakfast warming today..._ his thought trails off while he begins to stretch.

After climbing out of bed and leaving his bedroom, only pausing to make sure the door is locked, he heads downstairs and into the kitchen finding that it is, surprisingly, empty. Surely Kirby would've been up and causing trouble by now, but the guy was nowhere to be seen.

Confirmation of Kirby's presence wasn't the pokemon seeing him, but hearing him. A loud yell and a squeal from the kitchen are followed by a thud, then some muffled grunting, then finally another yell as Kirby gets chucked out the buffet window. He bounces on the carpet a little before coming to rest at the base of a table leg while Toon pokes his head out of the window.

"For the I-don't-know-what time Kirby, stay out of the kitchen!" he yells, brandishing a wooden spoon like his sword before disappearing back into the large room.

The pokemon sighs while walking over to and rousing the puffball. "Kirby, you okay?"

"Fine apart from being hungry...all I wanted was a little snack, but the instant I reached the fridge, that psychotic little elf jumped me!" Kirby replies.

"What? He was hiding behind the fridge the whole time waiting for you?"

Kirby pouts, "No, he was _on top_ of the fridge and came down on me like a ton of bricks," a moan comes out, "I think he hurt my head."

_That really isn't difficult to do considering your body shape_, Lucario thinks to himself. "Toon you're damn crazy, you know that?" he yells into the kitchen.

A loud grunt is Toon's reply, which only gets Lucario to sigh and shake his head.

"Morning boys." says a voice from the doorway out to the foyer. Lucario and Kirby turn to see Blaze standing in the doorway. Both of them utter a "Good Morning" in return, but only Lucario approaches the cat, Kirby doesn't move.

"Ready for your third day here?" Lucario asks after reaching her, "I should warn you, free days can get a little crazy."

"How bad can it be?"

"Well apart from having three or four crabs that could be in a bad mood, you've also got the pranksters to watch out for plus any of the other hyjinx that the rest of the smashers get into to occupy themselves."

"Pranksters? I doubt I have to worry about any of them. They prank me and..." Blaze creates a small ember at the tip of her index finger, "You get the idea."

Her reply is enough to get a few chuckles out of the pokemon, but their conversation is cut short by the appearance of Soren, Luigi, and Olimar in the doorway along with Pit's voice bellowing the sentence, "Breakfast's ready!"

Immediately Kirby hops up and dashes to the buffet line, the mere mentioning of food having healed him completely. Despite being able to put away nearly all off the food in the mansion on his own, he learned the hard way during the first Super Smash Bros to leave food for the others. He could always go back for more helpings and gobble down the leftovers once they were gone.

A steady trickle of smashers enter the dining room while Blaze and Lucario get their food and take their seats. Because they woke up so early, they're also the ones who finished first (since Kirby went back for his usual second helping), and begin discussing possible plans for the day when a bit of bad luck strikes.

Blaze's attention gets diverted for a second, but during that time she walks right into Snake, knocking his tray from his hands and spilling the food he just got from the buffet all over the floor.

"Gah!" he yells at the sight of his food in a pile on the floor, then he rounds on Blaze with a glare, "Watch where you're going brat!" he snarls.

"It was an accident! Don't get snippy with me!" Blaze retorts.

"I don't really care, you don't mess with me!" He swings a fist while aiming for Blaze's face, but before the cat can even react the fist is caught by Lucario.

"It was an accident Snake, get over it." He says, his tone isn't raised or aggressive but completely free of humor or any kind of cheer.

"Make me you dumb..." he couldn't finish the insult on account of Lucario's actions. The pokemon snaps Snake's wrist backwards, releasing a violent pop and making the mercenary howl in pain. Then Lucario releases Snake's wrist while sweeping his legs out from under him, causing the human to fall and face-plant into his food.

"There. Now you can eat." Lucario says before moving on, Blaze following closely behind.

"Geez Lucario...a little harsh, don't you think?"

"Its the only way to deal with a sadistic bully like him." Lucario answers.

"But won't he just come back?"

"Not really. Snake's always grumpy in the morning, but he usually just drops something after he's woken up a little more. Of course, if he doesn't, I know how to make him go away."

"Okay...and, uh, thanks for protecting me."

"No problem." Lucario replies, blushing a little without knowing it. Luckily for him his fur is able to hide it.

The Snake incident is quickly forgotten as the two exit the dining room and find an incredibly strange sight...Master Hand was lying on his back in the foyer, with a big brown sack between thumb and forefinger.

"Okay, I know you told me yesterday that the insane is ordinary here, but does Master Hand frequently sleep in the foyer?"

"No he doesn't...he's got his own room. I've honestly never." Lucario stops dead in mid-sentence when he notices something about this big hand...its a lefty. The second after her notices this critical detail, a faint, muffled giggling reaches his ears.

"Crap! Blaze! Watch out!" he yells, tackling the feline away from the hand. The two collide with the dining room wall the same second the left hand suddenly releases a creepy laugh before bolting straight up...

...then bashing itself on the ceiling, flipping over and falling fingers-first into the foyer-floor.

Lucario and Blaze, as well as everyone else in the dining room, turn and look as the hand staggers back upright, weakling giggling and swaying back and forth. All of the veterans groan at the sight of it...

...Crazy Hand is back.

While most of the crowd begins to file out of the dining room for a better look, Master Hand teleports in. "What's going on?!" he yells in urgency, worried that one of his guests got hurt, "What were those...oh..." his tone changes from urgency to annoyed tolerance. "Hey bro."

"Wassup Master?" Crazy replies. He seems disoriented from his sudden meeting with both ceiling and floor, which left a nice big crater in each by the way, but then again with this hand...its hard to tell.

"Dare I ask what happened?"

"Oh well, see I got the trophies you wanted, but it was so tiring getting them that I fell onto the floor to rest. Hey did you know that that Wollywog thing-a-ma-hoosit wasn't fun to get? I got bitten! Man those..."

"Crazy! Fo-cus." Master instructs.

"Oh right, what happened...okay, well I fell down to rest a little bit, and then I suddenly remembered this joke I heard while out working and rocketed into the ceiling. Did you know that ceilings are hard? I mean it, I think I snapped a...Ooo look! People!" Crazy suddenly exclaims before floating over to the crowd.

"Crazy wait! What..." Master's plea falls on deaf ears...or whatever it is giant disembodied hands use to hear.

"Oh wow so many returning faces. Hi guys! Do you remember me?! Hey look! This one's new!" Crazy suddenly exclaims while spotting Knuckles. "Wow you're really red. You're hair's pretty cool and I like that tattoo on your chest. Hi, I'm Crazy Hand, what's your name?" The hand with the attention span of a fly quickly (and quite vigorously) shakes Knuckles' hand between thumb and index finger, then wanders off to the next person before the echidna could introduce himself back.

This continues for a few minutes before Master suddenly smacks his brother. "Crazy! Just tell me what happened to my mansion!"

"Well duh bro isn't it obvious? I got excited, flew up, hit my head on the ceiling, then fell back down and smashed into the ground." Crazy replies as if it was common knowledge, "Geez it isn't rocket science."

Master seems to sigh, "We'll talk about this later, now you said you brought trophies?"

"Sure did bro! They're all in that sack right there. All fourteen of the ones you asked me to get." Crazy proudly says.

"Ah, excellent, excellent. I'll have them archived right away." Master states.

"Bravo sir!" Crazy cheers, now mimicking a butler with a heavy British-accent. "Another fourteen trophies of exquisite quality to add to your collection. Tell me sir, are there any more you wish for me to find?"

"Actually there are."

"Boo-yah!" Crazy yells, sounding like his normal self again...well, normal for _him_ at least. "Gimme, gimme, gimme!" he chants.

"Uh, perhaps you should rest for a little bit first. You don't want to over-stress yourself you know."

"Right bro! I'll take a nap right now!" Crazy literally meant, right now. He immediately falls over onto his back, snoring loudly.

Master sighs before turning to the crowd, "I apologize, my brother is a bit...well, his name is Crazy Hand for a reason. I'll move him out of the way...and uh...Lucario, Colette, Falco, and Ashe, you all seem to be about finished with breakfast. You four are to archive these new additions, here's the list of what goes where." After making a slip of paper appear in Falco's hand, Master gingerly grabs his brother and warps away, leaving the smashers to their work.

"Well, you guys heard the hand." Falco says, walking over to the sack and grabbing hold, "These trophies aren't gonna move themselves."

The rest of the crowd moves off to do whatever it is they have planned or go back to eating while Lucario and Ashe move to help Falco with the sack. It wasn't particularly heavy, since the trophies themselves are fairly light despite their size, but it was bulky. It takes all three combined to lift the sack and keep it balanced while moving towards the trophy wing, Colette opening the doors in their way.

The trophy wing seems a little under-whelming, it is just a short hallway that leads to a dead end. On both sides of the hall are life-sized statues of all of the veteran fighters, each one in their own unique pose. In front of each trophy is a sleek, pure-black granite pedestal with a golden plaque that has the smasher's name, home-planet, a brief description of and some of the history of the person as well as a color picture of him or her.

"Hey, what gives? I don't see a trophy of me here. Or one of Colette or Aile." Ashe asks while helping to carry the sack.

"You newcomers haven't been around long enough." Falco explains, "Don't worry Ashe, in about a week or so, Master will craft a trophy of you and all of the other newcomers, which will then be on display here."

"Hey Falco?" Colette asks, doing her best to stay out of the way of the three, "Why do you call them trophies if they're really statues?"

Falco shrugs. "You've got me there Colette. I don't understand it either, but Crazy Hand is the one who created this whole idea, so Master Hand let him choose whatever name he wanted. He picked 'trophies' for whatever reason."

The group reaches the back of the hall and sets the sack down, and immediately the two newcomers look around.

"Where do these things go anyway?" Ashe asks.

"Here." Falco replies before walking up to the right-hand wall. A small portion of the cool-blue material slides away when the bird gets close enough, allowing him access to a red button not unlike something in an elevator.

He presses it and a loud 'ding' resonates in the room before an ornate, golden fence springs up out of the ground about seven feet from the back wall. Shortly afterwards, a rumbling is heard while the floor begins to drop down...the back of the room is really a large elevator.

A quick, minute-long ride later, and the four are standing in the middle of one of the basement floors, the location of the rest of the trophy wing. The room is very large and lit by the same artificial sunlight lights that are in the suites, and if it wasn't for the lack of windows, they would've felt above-ground instead of below it. The room itself is a shape unlike any other room...it isn't round, or square, or octagonal, instead it has about ten or eleven walls, each one with a single door in it. The reason for such an oddly shaped room? Each door leads to a different hallway that represents a different participating planet except for one, which led to the room holding trophies of all of the weird odds and ends that Master and Crazy stumble across in their work.

"Here Luca, check over the list and see what goes where." Falco says while shoving the list into Lucario's paw. "I'll start digging the things out," he adds while opening the sack and beginning to remove the trophies.

"Crazy said there are fourteen trophies, so how about we split the work into halves?" Lucario suggests looking over the list and quickly sorting the trophies that Falco was removing into piles. It helps that the list was categorized by planet, and had a picture of the trophy beside its name.

By now Falco's entire upper half had disappeared into the sack to reach the ones that are down at the bottom. "Fair enough, I'll go with Ashe if you'll pair up with Colette. Deal?" He asks, his voice a little muffled by the fabric

"I'm okay with it if the ladies are." Lucario replies. "Well?"

"That's fine with me." Colette answers. Ashe gives a thumbs-up, showing she was okay with it too.

Once Falco removes the last trophy, he glances at the groups. "Hmm...Luca, you take the pokemon and those new guys for Olimar's room, I'll handle the Lylat one and the rest." He says, "Come on Ashe, lets get started." Falco quickly hefts a trophy bound for the Hyrule room and gestures for Ashe to grab another.

As they head off Lucario grabs the nearest pokemon trophy and easily hoists it onto his shoulder. "Colette? Would you mind getting the Magneton?"

"Umm..." Colette replies, a blank look present. She had never heard anything remotely close to that word before.

"The big silver thing with three eyes." Lucario explains.

Colette turns back to the pile, easily spots the Magneton and lifts it up, surprising herself as the base comes up with it despite the carving floating a good foot-and-a-half above it.

"Come along." Lucario says, turning and walking towards one of the doors over to his left. Colette follows and notices that the plaque beside the door reads 'Pokenoa'.

"Pokenoa?" Colette repeats, walking through the automatic sliding doors, "What's that?"

"The name of my home planet." Lucario answers, drawing Colette's attention from the odd name to the hall around her. Just like with the smasher trophies up above, this room has a walkway down the middle with a row of trophies on both sides. Occupying the two rows are dozens if not a hundred creatures entirely new to Colette, all of them in groups by their home terrain, signified by the beautiful mural on the walls. It starts as a desert, the gently transitions to a grassland, then a forest before continuing around the room, changing itself constantly before finishing up as an ocean.

"Oh wow Lucario...what are all of these?" Colette asks in amazement.

"All of these creatures are pokemon. Pokemon come in hundreds if not thousands of species, ranging from ones no bigger than your knee, to colossal giants standing dozens of feet high." Lucario replies, not bothering to turn back to Colette as he walks down the aisle. Colette follows in silence, still carrying the Magneton.

The Pokenoa native comes to a stop in front of the empty spaces at the forest part of the mural. After checking the nameplate on each pedestal to figure out where his trophy, a large turtle-like creature with three spikes and a tree on its back, goes, he plops the trophy into the round slot behind the pedestal, then begins trying to twist it into place.

Colette sets Magneton down beside her while watching Lucario for a few seconds, then tries starting a conversation. "So...Falco seems to call you Luca a lot."

"Yes, its his nickname for me." Lucario replies, grunting a little while continuing to fight with the trophy. It seems like he's having trouble getting a good grip on it.

"Is it okay if I call you Luca?"

"Go ahead." Lucario indifferently replies, his attention still on the trophy that is stubbornly refusing to lock into place. That attention is soon diverted when he feels two arms wrap around him, holding on just below the chest spike. "Yes Colette?" He asks, glancing at the blond out of the corner of his eye.

"Nothing, I just like doggies." She replies, "Wow, your fur is really soft."

"Thank you, but I'm not a dog."

"You still look like one." She replies, still holding on.

"I'm just a dog-shaped pokemon, nothing more." He pauses, "Would you mind letting go? We do have work to do." he adds, just the tiniest hint of annoyance present.

Colette releases him and takes a couple steps backward. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"Its alright, no harm done. Would you mind setting Magneton in his place? Right over there?" Lucario asks, gesturing over towards another opening in the trophy line, near what looks like ruins.

"Not at all!" she cheerfully replies before picking Magneton back up and hurrying over to the gap. Lucario turns back to the turtle and resumes the fight, but barely three seconds pass before he hears a loud crash and whips around to see Colette on the ground and the Magneton trophy is (somehow) in its spot.

"Colette!" Lucario yells, hurrying over to the blond and kneeling down beside her. "Are you okay?"

"Yea, I just tripped, that's all." Colette replies as she starts to get up. Suddenly she feels a hand rest itself on her back and a second one take her right hand. Upon looking, she sees that Lucario has taken her hand and is helping her up.

Once the angel is upright, Lucario removes his hand from her back, but keeps a hold on her hand in case she is unbalanced. "Sure you're alright?" he asks.

"Uh-huh." She replies, distracted by the warm feeling that is emanating from his paw. "Wow...your paw is so warm."

"That would be my aura." Lucario says while releasing her hand and walking towards the Magneton trophy. With a single push, the trophy click right into place.

"Aura?" Colette asks, curiously following the tall pokemon back to the turtle.

"Yes. Aura is the life-force of all living things and I have the ability to manipulate my aura to my will. My aura is more energetic than others, and as a result of that it vents around my hands." Lucario explains, "Others feel my venting aura as warmth."

"That sounds a lot like mana."

"Mana?" Lucario asks, resuming his battle with the turtle.

Colette nods. "Its really similar to what you described, only its more like the life-force of Sylvarant than of a single person."

Lucario lets out a grunt to show that he understood before giving the turtle a hard shove and clicking it into place. "Interesting...would you mind waiting here for a few seconds? There's only two left for here."

"Not at all." Colette replies. The pokemon turns and leaves while she begins to look at the wide assortment of creatures. There were so many: giant birds, sandy moles, snakes made out of boulders, she even found one of an adorable red and black furred puppy.

"_Growlithe_" The plaque for the trophy read, "_The puppy pokemon. Growlithe are famous for their obedience and will follow their owner's orders to the letter. Growlithe are also fiercely protective of the children they bond with and won't hesitate to bite someone who is threatening them. On top of their strong jaws, Growlithe can also breathe fire and also uses this to protect its family._"

"Interested in the Growlithe?" asks Lucario's voice, getting the blond to turn around and see him standing there, a trophy of a big red-and-white sphere with a face up on his shoulder.

"Yup, it sure is cute."

Lucario releases a chuckle. "You'd definitely like that pokemon Colette. They're also very warm and very cuddle-friendly pokemon. You have one of those and you'd never be cold at night again." he says, walking towards the Magneton statue.

Before Colette could reply, the Pokemon quickly places and locks the trophy into place with a click, then turns around and heads back to the main room. Colette shadows him all the way there, noticing that a trophy of a Ditto has appeared.

Within a few seconds, Lucario has two of the three statues left for them slung up on his shoulders. "Colette? Would you mind grabbing the big yellow frog?" he asks, already heading for the room labeled 'Pikipik'.

Colette grabs the Yellow Wollywog's trophy and hurries after the pokemon into the new room. It is identical to the Pokenoa room in design, except that the mural on the walls is a single serene forest with a few lakes instead of a multitude of terrain. However, like in Pokenoa, all of the trophies in this room are of creatures she had never seen before.

"What are these?" she asks, observing a trophy of a Dwarf Red Bulborb.

"Various creatures that Olimar discovered on the Pikmin's home planet." Lucario somewhat gruffly replies, just before clicking a trophy of an Armored Cannon Beetle into place. "You'll have to ask Olimar if you want to learn anything specific about them."

Colette watches Lucario walk to a nearby spot and begin fighting with the Burrowing Snagret trophy. After a few seconds, she says, "I'm sorry."

Lucario stops fighting with the snake-bird and turns to look at her, noticing that she glances away from him as he does so. "What for?"

"For upsetting you."

"Why would you think I'm upset?"

"Everytime you say something, you sound more and more irritated," Colette replies, "Its all of my questions that are upsetting you, isn't it?"

Lucario lets out several laughs at this, "Colette I'm not getting upset with you, its these trophies. They refuse to go into place sometimes and it gets very frustrating, very fast."

"Really?" she asks while looking up at him

"Honest." Lucario says while walking over to her, "I should apologize for being gruff with you when its the trophies that are bugging me. Forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you Lucario. We're friends, right?"

Lucario doesn't reply right away, instead choosing to smile at Colette and playfully ruffle her blond hair before saying, "Right."

Colette squeaks a little and pushes his hand away, getting Lucario to laugh again. "Would you mind placing the Wollywog? He should go right over there." Lucario asks while pointing to an open space just behind Colette on the left side of the room.

Colette nods and heads over to put the trophy where it goes while Lucario goes back to work on the Snagret. They finish up in roughly a minute and begin heading back to the main room, Lucario grabbing Colette by the arm when she starts to trip.

"Wow...good reflexes." She compliments as he pulls her back up.

"Thanks." Lucario replies with a hint of a smile before they continue on.

"I'm guessing you guys are done?" Falco asks when he sees them leave the Pikipik room. A nod from both is his answer.

"Alright, so how do we get back to the surface?" Ashe asks. Falco grins and heads over to one corner of the elevator platform, where a panel slides away and a console pops up.

"Make sure to keep your hands and feet away from the edge at all times." Falco says before pressing the only button on the console. With a whirring noise, the elevator begins going upwards and reaches the entrance to the trophy wing in about two minutes.

Once the gate lowers, Ashe quickly takes off, yelling, "See ya guys! I promised to help Samus and Aile with some things!" as she left.

"That reminds me, I've gotta meet with Sonic to...uh...catch up on a few things." Falco says before rushing off as well.

"Sorry Lucario, I really do want to stay with you a little more, but I agreed to a tour of the mansion with Peach, Zelda, and some of the others. Bye!" Colette exclaims before rushing off as well.

Lucario sighs a little as Colette leaves before he begins walking out of the room as well. _Things are definitely going to be more interesting with her around. She's not all bad though, she is kinda cute...in an odd, clumsy way._ He thinks while departing as well. As much as he would've liked to go find Blaze, he had something to attend to in town.

Just as he reaches the midway point of the foyer, he hears Crazy Hand yell, "Thanks bro! These trophies are as good as caught!" then adds, "I'll be back." in the terminator accent.

Lucario turns around with just enough time to duck as he sees Crazy barrel straight at him. The hand goes clear over his head and breaks through the doors like they are made of wet toilet paper. Through the large opening, Lucario sees Crazy spin around in a circle a few times and hears a few squawks from him before the hand disappears in a flash of light.

"My deepest apologies Lucario." says Master's voice from behind the pokemon. "You know how Crazy gets when it comes to his trophies..."

"He missed, its no problem. Would you mind holding off fixing the door until I leave? I was going to head into town."

"Go right ahead Lucario, but do be careful. It seems as if a severe rainstorm is blowing its way in from the east."

"Don't worry, I will." the pokemon replies before sprinting out the door. He hears a loud snap come from behind and knows that Master fixed the door.

* * *

In a little cafe, tucked away in the basement of the Smashville Museum, a lone bartender slowly and methodically dries a glass with a towel. He is similar to the other anthros in town, but at the same time different. He was a pigeon, with greenish feathers and a small set of spectacles that hid his eyes. He has something like a small, swoopy mustache and is wearing a black sweater-vest.

This is Brewster, the manager, bartender, and owner of The Roost, a cafe with such a peaceful and relaxed air to it that no-one could come in and be high-strung. The pigeon let out a sigh as he cleans the glass, it was lonely today, like most days...but the sound of the stairs creaking ever so slightly made him look up from his work...and actually got the bird to smile.

"Good day Lucario." Brewster said, happy to see his old friend.

"Good day Brewster." Lucario replied, "Would you mind?"

"Not at all." Brewster says while turning to the coffee machine. Even though he uses a machine to make his coffee, Brewster uses a very special recipe that makes his coffee amazingly delicious. It is his one pride and joy if you didn't count The Roost itself.

While the machine gently whirs as it brews, an effect that blends into the soft cafe music that is playing like it was just another instrument, the pigeon takes a look at his friend and smiles again.

Lucario is one of the few friends he had, apart from a couple residents and the musician K.K. Slider, and Brewster always loved the Pokemon's company. He is quiet, but not in any offensive way...Lucario's quietness showed that he's listening instead of tuning things out. In fact, Brewster actually preferred Lucario's quiet to the chatter of other patrons...its oddly soothing...like he could say anything on his mind and Lucario would listen without trying to understand or interrupt.

The coffee machine lets out a loud ding when the cup is done, and at once Brewster lifts the cup and saucer, removes it from the machine, and sets it down on the counter in front of Lucario, who has seated himself on one of the stools. "Enjoy Lucario. On the house."

"Thank you." The pokemon replies before taking the cup and sipping at the steaming hot coffee, sighing at the taste once the cup left his mouth. "How I've missed that taste..." he says before taking another sip, smiling inwardly at what a good friend the pigeon is.

Brewster is quite a unique anthro, he never spoke too much and rarely rambled; oftentimes the pigeon would go whole hours without speaking. It isn't like he is cold or anything, he just didn't have much to say, and his quiet attitude is always able to get Lucario to relax a little. Another thing the pokemon liked about Brewster is the pigeon's indifference. He never assumes anything about anyone when he first meets them and never questions or insults anything that any of his patrons believe in. The number one rule of The Roost is also Brewster's number one rule; All are welcome.

Lucario finishes off the remainder of his coffee and sets the cup back onto the saucer, which Brewster takes and puts back into the machine which begins to whir again. "Another cup on me Lucario." he politely says, "Although you've earned far more than this with what you have to deal with at home."

"You have no idea..." Lucario says, allowing his voice to trail off for a second as the rich scent of the coffee filled his nose. "Sometimes Brewster...I must admit that I'm a bit jealous of you. Sometimes, I wish I could just forgive and forget...to start every new person I meet with a clean slate...but its just so difficult to do when all of the pokemon trainers keep treating me like a prize...especially after..."

Brewster rests a feathered hand onto Lucario's arm, getting the pokemon to stop and look into his spectacles. "Sometimes it is impossible to forgive and forget...but it is never impossible to start someone off on a clean slate." he wisely says, before returning to the machine for the coffee.

Lucario sighs. "It is for me and trainers." he mumbles while accepting his fresh brew.

Brewster respectfully pauses while Lucario sips at the warm drink before deciding to change the subject. "Since you're back, I assume that a new tournament has started?"

"That's correct...Master Hand has started his fourth tournament as of yesterday...although the real fights won't begin for a few more days."

"Anyone of interest?"

"Well...we've got another one of...them...a couple swordsmen, some mice, a fox that uses a staff, a spellcaster, some half-angel, another spy, a guardian, two science creations, a couple gun toting teens, and three more princesses."

Brewster lets out one of his rare laughs, "Only in Smash Bros could all of those be gathered together."

Lucario laughs along with his friend, "You've got that right. Although there is one of those princesses...her name is Blaze and she seems...I don't know, different from the others."

"Different?" Brewster asks. "What do you mean?"

Lucario shrugs before finishing off his coffee, "I don't know, just...different from the others. As soon as I first saw her I could tell that something was new about her, but I honestly have no idea what." The pokemon answers.

The two gradually converse about various subjects for roughly an hour or so before the music cuts off for a report. "_Attention all patrons in The Roost._" says the professional voice of Blathers, the owl who maintains the museum upstairs. "_I have just gotten word that a severe rainstorm is about to hit our town, I advise you to be ready if you're going to leave during it._"

Lucario sighs, "It has been fun catching up with you Brewster, but I should probably leave before the storm hits."

"Very well, do come and visit again." Brewster says.

"Don't worry, I will." Lucario replies as he rounds the corner of the bar.

Just before he reaches the stairs, Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun come barreling down it. The three mice hop onto the counter whereupon Brewster sighs. "Samus' usual?" he asks.

"Make it three of her usuals, she's got some new friends she's sharing with." Pikachu replies, "Hey Lucario!" he suddenly chirps, "Sorry about cutting you off."

"No need to apologize Pikachu. If its Samus' usual, I totally understand." Lucario responds. "Do be careful on your way back. There'll be plenty of rain if you don't hurry."

"We'll be fine!" Plusle declares. "I just hope that whatever we're ordering can get wet."

While the mice quickly descend into conversation, Lucario disappears up the stairs, leaving Brewster to his work.

Out of all of the subjects he and Lucario talked about, this Blaze girl is what interested Brewster the most, and he starts thinking about it while going about the preparation of the drinks, the process is so routine he could do it blindfolded. The pigeon has a pretty good idea as to why Blaze seems so different to Lucario, but as is his nature, he wouldn't make up his mind until he meets Blaze and sees the interactions between them first-hand...

...of course if his guess is right, he couldn't have been happier for his friend.

**

* * *

**

Well? I hope it is satisfactory, its difficult trying to keep so many personalities apart. I'm still kinda new to Colette, so I hope I got her right...and how were Crazy's parts? As for the questions you all probably have as for why the mice had an appearance, that will have to wait a while.

Also, I know that according to the series, both Pokemon and Pikmin are supposed to be on Earth, but for the sake of keeping things simple (Snake's never come across a pokemon in his games, and he's from Earth right?) I created their own planets.


	19. A Mostly Free Afternoon

**My sincerest apologies for the delay, but I forgot about high-school registration. (sighs) An hour long thing turned into a three-and-a-half hour long waiting festival because the geinuses (extreme sarcasm) in charge of it didn't know what they were doing.**

**Oh well, hopefully this chapter doesn't disappoint! Mainly just character development, but its clever and should at least get a grin out of ya. Also, I couldn't help sneaking in a quick cameo of three characters, maybe you'll see them!**

* * *

Chapter 19 A (Mostly) Free Afternoon

Lucario manages to get back to the mansion just before the skies begin pouring out rain. The pokemon winces when he sees how much water is present and hopes that the mice won't short out on their way back. _Hmm...well, I've got two options, _the pokemon thinks to himself in the foyer, _I can either settle down and read, or head off to the arcade...I might as well see if there's any new reads..._

Without making a sound, Lucario pads over into the study and looks over all of the bookshelves, but nothing really perks up his interest. It was all stuff he wasn't in the mood for...but of course, the study only held a small fraction of the mansion's written material, at least ninety percent of it is in the library on the second floor, which is where Lucario heads for next.

The library is, like the study, a room of extreme elegance. Red oak is abundant in the room, making up the floor, tables, and bookshelves. Speaking of those, the shelves reached the full twelve feet to the ceiling and considering that there are a few dozen of the seven-foot-wide columns, there is no mistaking why it is called the library. Along with all of the books are several chairs, a crystal chandelier and candles in candlesticks, and (on a few of the small end-tables) checker and chess sets.

Just as the pokemon reaches the doorway, he hears Mewtwo's wise telepathic voice drift into his mind. "_Not bad Meta, it took me twenty-one turns to beat you this time._"

The aura pokemon rounds the corner to find Mewtwo and Meta sitting across from the other at one of the chess tables. Meta has a sour look on his face...or at least his aura was saying that, but Mewtwo is the real surprise. The intelligent pokemon is reclined in an armchair, but about four or five books are floating in the air around him, all open to various pages with their contents aimed towards the psychic-type.

"_That's almost double what it took last time._" Mewtwo adds.

"Just reset the board." Meta growls.

Instantly the game pieces begin floating back to their respective spots without so much as a blink from Mewtwo. Lucario watches all of this with curiousity as he approaches. "Mewtwo? Are you playing or reading?" he asks, noticing that every now and then a page would turn in one of the books.

"_Both. With a brain more powerful and faster than a supercomputer, you get bored easily._"

"But...five books at once and winning a game of chess?"

"_I repeat, more powerful than a supercomputer._" Mewtwo replies before sliding one of his pawns forward two squares without even looking away from his books.

Lucario watches for a few seconds, then shakes his head and moves off to look around and see if there are any new arrivals. There really isn't much, he didn't want to read through one of the tomes from Hyrule nor an okay (but slightly preachy) novel from Skyworld. An adventure novel from the Mushroom Kingdom perked up a little of his interest, but right now he wanted to relax and smile, not get pulled to the edge of his seat.

_Maybe save it for later._ Lucario thinks to himself while sliding the book back into place. Just as he is about to leave, a new arrival in the Earth section catches his eye.

The Earth section is always the most peculiar to Lucario, just the sheer variety of it all boggles his mind. Some are preachy, like those from Skyworld; others are gripping adventures, like those from Lylat or the Mushroom Kingdom. Still others are mysteries, like one would occasionally find from Pokenoa; and still more are plays not unlike what might be found in the Crimean section. There are even some that belonged to Earth alone, like this one style Lucario discovered last tournament that was called...manga was it?

_Such a peculiar style of book from a peculiar world._ Lucario thinks while walking towards that section. _Its read backwards and seems to have equal parts illustration and writing. And what an odd way for humans from Earth to draw themselves, such large eyes and odd hairstyles. Then again, Snake is the only human I've seen from Earth, so that might be normal and he's an abnormal._

He looks over the strange and seemingly mis-matched collection of works from Earth and spots a new one. It seems fairly thick and has a deep-black colored spine, but the words on it shimmer in an almost ghostly silver. Its title was quite odd, _The Halfa Book 1_, and that only prompts the curious pokemon into removing the book and looking at its cover.

Clearly this is another of that manga style judging by the characters on the cover. Lucario had learned that the characters appearing on the covers of _mangas_ are generally the main characters and what a unique bunch these three are. The first is a boy, wearing a white T-shirt, red sneakers, and blue jeans with sapphire-blue eyes, pale-white skin, and raven black spiky hair that had about a third of itself hanging out over his face. The next is another boy, this one with brown skin and turquoise eyes, wearing a yellow T-shirt, deep-green cargo pants and tan boots. His hair couldn't be seen because of a red beret over his head. The third is a girl with the same white-toned skin as the first boy, wearing boots, leg-length deep purple socks, a black skirt reaching to her knees, and a black tank-top that reveals her middle. Her hair fell to the sides of her face with a little up in a mini-ponytail and is (you guessed it) raven-black. Her eyes however, are amethyst purple...a color that Lucario found quite interesting since purple was never an eye-color he found before.

Judging by their height and the girl's shape, the three are all teens, but Lucario found their poses more interesting. The first boy had his head hanging low and his eyes down at the ground, like he is upset about something, while the second boy and the girl each had a hand on their friend's shoulder, watching him with a look of worry.

Figuring it couldn't hurt to give the new manga a shot, Lucario takes the book with him to one of the chairs, settles down and begins reading...from the back of course. It didn't take long for him to get hooked. He finishes it in about half-an-hour, pleasently surprised at all of the quirks the characters had and how clever some of the ideas are.

The pokemon returns to the Earth section and replaces the book, but the next issue isn't present. Lucario shrugs in defeat, hears Meta release a frustrated yell and the crash of a chess board, and quickly leaves before he could get caught up in the ensuing scuffle.

Now deciding to head to the arcade, Lucario softly walks down the halls and down the main staircase before coming across the mario bros. "Hey Lucario!" Mario says, getting the pokemon's attention, "My bro and I were just about to have a racing tournament, want to join?"

"Sure, why not?" Lucario replies with a shrug, he didn't have much else to do. The pokemon joins the plumbers on the walk to the arcade, finding about ninty-percent of the other smashers already present and either playing a game or watching others.

All of the games in the three-thousand-square foot room are either direct imports or modified versions games that Master Hand discovered a while ago on Earth. There are things called "Pinball Tables," "Foosball Tables," and "Air Hockey Tables," as well as a fairly wide selection of video games, the most popular three being a dance game called Dance Dance Revolution (Lucario couldn't help but roll his eyes at the title), an instrument playing game called Smash Band (based off a game called Rock Band, again getting the pokemon to roll his eyes), and finally Smash Kart (this one actually based off the Mario Kart sport from the Mushroom Kingdom).

After rounding up a few more players, Krystal, Fox, Ike, May, Red, and Blaze, Mario and Luigi guide the group over to the Smash Kart machines. They give a basic explanation of the controls to the newcomers, then everyone takes a seat. Each racer selects their kart, then the machine quickly scans each one, creating a model of the smasher in the game instead of having to select from a generic set of characters...a luxury yes, but that's what this mansion is known for.

"Okay guys, there's gonna be eight races," Luigi says, "The game gives out points depending on what place you get, highest score at the end wins. Ready?" After getting a yes from everyone, the younger bro starts up the game and the races begin.

It takes the newcomers a second to get used to the controls, mainly because none of them have driven a go-kart before, but soon they're swerving around turns and throwing items like pros. Through the course of about thirty minutes, the eight races are played out before the final score is displayed. Not surprisingly, Mario won, then came Fox; Luigi; then...

"You sneaky pest!" Blaze exclaims, seeing that Lucario beat her by one point. "If it wasn't for that blue shell hitting me on the Egg Fleet level, I'd have beaten you."

"Can't help it if you've got bad luck." Lucario says with a shrug, earning him a friendly punch in the arm.

"Speaking of sneaky, where've you been the past few hours?"

"After I helped put the trophies away, I went into town to meet an old friend, then came back and started reading," Lucario answers, "Why?"

"Just curious. I'm a cat, remember?"

Lucario snickers a little before the loudspeakers announce that dinner is ready. "Damn if that isn't great timing." Ike says, quickly getting up and leaving...he had the lowest score of all.

After dinner Lucario and Blaze go their separate ways, Lucario heading up to the gym for a little exercise while Blaze gets drawn into a conversation with Midna. Even though the gym has windows, its dark out so no light is present...sure he could've turned on the lights, but working in aura-sight is a bit more rewarding and difficult.

The pokemon closes his eyes while his aura-receptors (those four masses hanging off the back of his head) raise up and stand out to the side. In an instant, the dark room is alight with a blue glow visible only to him. With every pulse of aura created when he moves a muscle, the objects around him reflect it back like sonar, the aura wrapping around the object and changing its brightness on how far away said object is.

To his left sat a few weight benches, over on his right are the treadmills, but the punching bags directly in front of him are the real draw, and within a second the heavy implements are swinging back and forth from the pokemon's fists.

An hour or so passes like this, Lucario quietly pounding away on the sandbag while viewing its movements and changing his attacks to work with them all in aura-sight. It is such a great gift to have, no matter how dark it is for normal sight, aura-sight is always bright as day.

Eventually Lucario's acute hearing picks up the sound of boots on the floor outside, and his head quickly snaps to look at the exit. The door is ajar, and while most of the hallway is blocked to him, he could see another aura field approaching the gym. Once it got close enough, this aura field took on the shape of...

"Luca! There you are dude!" Falco yells, walking up to his friend like he hadn't been seen in years.

"Yes, now did you need something?" Lucario asks, still watching his friend in the clarity of aura-sight.

No matter how times Lucario did it, Falco still found it creepy that the pokemon could see him perfectly with his eyes closed. The avian shakes it off before continuing, "Did you forget? We gotta..._welcome_ our fellow male newbies." Falco says, using a mischeivous tone at 'welcome'.

Knowing exactly what Falco meant, Lucario groans. "Go and play that childish game, I'm staying here." he says, turning his back to his friend.

"Oh no you don't. We need every guy there to make it all the more special." Falco says before plopping a hand down on Lucario's shoulder, "You're going to be there whether you want to or not." With that Falco (literally) drags Lucario out of the gym, ignoring the grunts of frustration coming from his victim.

"Honestly...who do you think you are, Diddy?" Lucario grumbles.

"Ignoring that." Falco hisses. He never forgave (and never will forgive) the monkey for making him look like an idiot in front of Fox during the Subspace Incident.

The bird drags the pokemon down the hall, down the stairs, and finally into the auditorium, where every other male smasher has gathered and a menagiere of drinks and snacks sat waiting on tables, the chairs all tucked into one corner of the room.

"Found him!" Falco cheers, finally releasing the pokemon's shoulder. "Alright ROB, kick on those tunes and lets start this party!"

The robot nods before starting up the music track, a song entitled "Falling for the First Time."

Lucario winces at how well the name fit the situation before getting to his feet. "Falco, you are just..." his friendly insult drops off when a familiar smell reaches his nose, "Are those watmel berries I smell?"

"Yup, Mew dropped off some for the party, just for you." Falco replies, gesturing over at the snack table where Mew is floating over a bowl of large, pink and green berries.

Having completely forgetting about what's going to happen, Lucario makes a beeline for the snack table, greets Mew, then chomps down onto one of the apple-sized berries. He closes his eyes and listens to the music over the hum of the crowd; either swapping strategies, heroic deeds, brag-worthy accomplishments, or jokes.

"So Mew," Lucario says after swallowing his current mouthful of berry, "You gonna be okay here with...uh, your clone hanging around?" Lucario still remembers the rivalry that Mew told him about, and the last thing this place needed is a fight breaking out between two pokemon like Mewtwo and Mew.

"Meh," Mew shrugs, "We've kinda grown to tolerating one another. Personally, I never had a problem with him at first, but everytime we met, he'd attack...it just grew to be annoying after awhile." The pink pokemon glances over at his purple counterpart, who is amusing himself by keeping a beer bottle just out of Snake's reach. "Knowing that he can fight his rivals from Melee should keep tensions between us to a minimum."

Lucario nods before taking another bite. He could perfectly understand what Mew is saying back on home on Pokenoa, but its still nice hearing the small creature speak human. Master Hand truly did think of everything when he started this whole idea, and knowing that speech would be a problem, the giant hand decided to warp reality just enough for all his participants to speak and understand a single language...just one of the many benefits to being a giant, omnipotent hand.

After about thirty minutes, Falco gives ROB a nod, the cue to stop the music. The avian climbs up onto a chair and clears his throat to get everyone's attention. "Your attention please! We veterans would like to welcome all you newcomers to this mansion, and I know your stay here will be unlike anything you've experienced before! So much so, that there's a bit of a tradition here to get newcomers ready for the life of a smasher...all of you will be given one outragous thing to do, and you must do it...no question asked. Rest assured though that they won't be anything too harmful, just embarrassing."

A murmur starts to rise from the crowd wherever a newcomer is.

"It isn't that bad, all of us have had to go through with it when we were newcomers. Now then, Knuckles, you're first, come on backstage so we can give you your challenge."

With more than a little reluctance showing, the echidna follows the avian and the hedgehog behind the red curtain.

_It has begun_... Lucario thinks to himself, sighing at whatever mischief Falco and Sonic thought up in those twisted minds of theirs.

After a few minutes, Falco comes back out from behind the curtain with a wicked grin on his face. "Gentlemen, its time for you to meet...Princess Knuckles!"

The curtain opens wide to give all the guys a view of the echidna, and what a sight he is all fancied up in one of Peach's bright pink dresses. Since the mobian is so much shorter than the real princess, the dress is very loose and even more ridiculous looking, which only makes the howls of laughter from the guys that much louder.

With the definition of a scowl on his face, Knuckles turns to the chuckling blue hedgehog behind him. "I'm going to kill you for this."

"Don't get so serious on me ma'am, you look really pretty!" Sonic can't hold it back any longer and begins laughing his head off.

After a minute of the torture, Knuckles is allowed to remove the dress, which Falco hides away to slip into the laundry later. "Alright, next up is..."

Lucario doesn't stick around long enough to hear who would be humilated next, besides...if Brawl was any indication of what would happen, there'd be pictures and video galore in the Smash System's gallery after a few days.

He grabs a few watmel berries for the road before slipping out the door, eternally grateful for the carpet and his soft footsteps. Nobody even knew the aura pokemon left except for Mew, who followed his friend right out the door.

"What's the matter? Not in the mood to see others get humilated?" Mew asks once the two are out of earshot.

"Exactly. I'm just going to hear all about it from Sonic and Falco tomorrow anyway...and you know how much I detest crowds."

"Textbook loner..." Mew mutters.

The two continue on into the foyer and up the main staircase before settling down, Lucario leaning against the railing on his hip and Mew sitting down on a small table with a potted plant, accepting one of the three berries Lucario has with him.

The two just hang out in the soft light from the crystal chandeliers, peacefully munching away at their berries. Suddenly the sound of clicking shoes is heard, getting the two pokemon to turn and see Blaze come around the corner, a frustrated look on her face.

"Something wrong Blaze?" Lucario asks, getting her to look up and see her friend.

Blaze sighs before hopping up and sitting on the railing beside the pokemon, "Peach. The girl's okay, but she wouldn't stop talking about how wonderful her dress collection is. I didn't know that one girl could be so smitten with clothing..." The cat sighs before resting a hand to her temple, using the other to keep her balance. "I lied about having to go to the bathroom just so I could get away to nurse this headache."

"Mmm..." Lucario hums, showing he understood. "Watmel berry?" he asks, offering the cat the third fruit, "They're pretty tasty."

"Sure." Blaze replies, taking the fruit and chomping into it, sighing as the sweet taste filled her mouth. Then she notices Mew. "Aww...what a little cutie." she says after swallowing, gesturing at the small pokemon.

"That's Mew, a fellow pokemon and friend of mine. Come on Mew, Blaze doesn't bite."

Mew quietly gets up off the table and floats over to Blaze, bowing politely while saying, "Hello Blaze."

"Hi Mew." she replies, stifling her giggles at the clumsy bow that Mew did. The watmel berry he held onto made it very difficult to stay upright, and he almost did a front-flip instead of a bow.

Slowly the small pokemon floats down into her lap, curling up while going back to snacking on the berry that was as big as his head.

Blaze can't help but smile down at the small pokemon and release an "Aww" while starting to scratch him behind the ears. Normally she doesn't get all sparkly eyed and girly over anything, but Mew was just so cute that she couldn't help it!

Lucario chuckles. "Mew has that effect on all females. The instant they see him, they're infatuated with his cuteness...even Samus can't help cuddling the little guy and she's one of the least girly women I know."

Blaze only sighs, now stroking Mew's soft fur while eating her berry. Eventually the fruits are gone, at which point Blaze sighs. "Hooray for me, I now get to go back and listen to Peach prattle on and on about her dresses again." the cat groans.

"You don't have to go back." Lucario says, "Peach probably won't notice, what with so many new females to chat with, and I was about to go to one of my favorite rooms. I don't mind if you tag along."

"Why not? Better than hearing about how cute pink is...no offense Mew."

"Meh..." Mew indifferently grunts while floating out of her lap, "I was actually thinking of heading to bed...what's your room?"

"Room 16." Lucario replies, "And Mew, don't hog the whole bed."

"Geez, I stretch out and make myself comfortable one time..." Mew grumbles before floating off for the suites.

"He can take up a whole bed?" Blaze asks.

"You'd be surprised." Lucario mumbles before heading off, Blaze following right behind.

The pokemon and mobian head around a few corners before moving up to the third floor. A few turns and down another hall led the pair to a set of double doors, and judging by the lack of handles these are also automatic doors. This is confirmed when the two approach and the doors quickly slide apart into the walls, allowing the two entrance into...

...an empty dome, its black walls only illuminated by a faint glow from the top of the room. The floor is solid glass, but beneath it is what appears to be water, its glassy smooth surface fooling Blaze into thinking it isn't there for a few seconds.

"So what exactly is this room?" Blaze curiously asks as the doors close behind her.

"The observatory," Lucario answers, "Pity that this room is rarely used, I find it endlessly fascinating."

"So where's the telescope?"

"This observatory doesn't use telescopes."

Before Blaze could ask another question, the faint glow from above suddenly explodes in a bright flash, blinding her for a second. Once her eyes refocus, a remarkable and terrifying sight meets her view...

...sitting in front of her, and only about twice her size, is an entire galaxy; glowing a faint, deep-blue color with a magenta ring around its pure white core. Spread out in all directions around her are other galaxies, all of their colors in a subdued hue and all different shapes and sizes. Even the floor changed to look like a never-ending expanse of space, complete with its own galaxies...which really wasn't good for this cat.

Blaze yelps from the startling change in scenery, jumping towards Lucario and quickly catching him in her arms.

"Easy Blaze, they're just holograms." Lucario says.

"O-okay..." Blaze stutters, slowly letting go of him while her cheeks start to glow red. "S-Sorry...I-I'm afraid of heights."

"Its fine." Lucario replies, his own cheeks turning red from suddenly having a girl latch onto him.

"S-So...this is all fake?"

Lucario nods. "The galaxies around us are just images on the walls, but this one," Lucario gestures at the larger, blue galaxy in front of them, "Is a hologram."

Blaze doesn't reply right away, now that her fear of heights subsided (only after tapping her foot on the floor to make sure it was fake), she was captivated by the beautiful galaxy in front of her. It opened up like a pinwheel, with two or three arms spiraling outward from the center which occasionally broke in two, leaving about six or seven ends. The entire blue flower isn't stationary either, instead it is slowly, lazily spinning around in place, the whole thing pivoting in one direction, then another.

"Its so beautiful." Blaze finally says, reaching out and cupping her hand to part of the galaxy.

"Yes it is, but its more than just something to look at. There's a reason why this room is called the observatory," Lucario says, "This whole galaxy is actually a map."

"A map?"

Lucario nods, "Look closely. See any small, blinking green dots?"

Blaze turns back to the hologram and peers closely at it. Sure enough, every now and then a small blinking green point can be seen. "Yea, what are they?"

"Home planets."

"Seriously?!" Blaze asks in surprise.

Lucario nods, "All of us smashers hail from one of those points. Kind of amazing to find out that so many different people all live in the same galaxy huh?"

"So...I can actually see anyone's homeworld on this?"

Lucario nods. "It is a matter of guessing to see which star system you get, but its still amazing to see an entire planet in front of you, small enough for you to hold. Go ahead...tap a dot."

Blaze watches all of the dots for a second before reaching out and tapping one about four-fifthes of the way down an arm. Suddenly the entire galaxy begins growing bigger and bigger. Its outer-most ends begin to wash up onto the walls but still appear to be going straight out.

Stars of all shapes and sizes go flying by, some on their own, most with a buddy. Steadily one star in particular seems to be what the hologram is homing in on, and before Blaze knows it, that star is floating in front of her, no bigger than a baseball.

The orb glows in a pure white light, its surface occasionally releasing little solar flares that leap from one spot on the star to another. Floating in the air around the small star are three pinball sized orbs; the planets.

"Wow...this is really putting how small we are into perspective huh?" Blaze comments, watching the planets orbit around the white dwarf star.

"Indeed. Whatever planet that is emitting a green pulse is the occupied planet." Lucario instructs.

Blaze quickly finds the occupied world, the middle of the three planets, and taps it. Like before, the hologram zooms in on the sphere, quickly enlarging it from a pinball to a basketball. The planet is like nothing Blaze imagined, she couldn't see any land or any water...instead the whole planet is a pale tan ball of clouds. Drifting across the sphere of clouds are darker patches of deeper tan which almost look like giant islands.

"Seems you've stumbled across Skyworld, Pit's homeland," Lucario comments. "That's quite a strange planet...all of the cities exist on floating masses of cloud and rock that drift lazily above the planet's surface which is concealed beneath the clouds."

"You know, in its own strange way...its very beautiful." Blaze says.

Lucario nods to agree. "When you're ready to back away, simply tap the planet again."

Blaze taps the planet to zoom back out, then taps the star to return to the massive blue galaxy, noticing that the dot marking Skyworld turned to red. Guessing that was only to show where she just was, Blaze doesn't ask a question but instead selects one dot among three that are close to one another.

Again, the hologram zooms in on the star, stopping when its the size of a large beach ball. This one is burning in a bright yellow-orange color and has seven or eight planets drifting around it along with a ring of asteroids. The planets all very in size from as small as a pea to a tennis ball, but the one emiting the green waves is about ping-pong ball sized.

Tapping on the planet yields a view of a breathtakingly beautiful world of sapphire blues and emerald greens, masked by long whisps of white clouds. Floating in the air around this world (now the size of a basketball) is a smaller, steel gray sphere about the size of a tennis ball, its surface covered in craters of all shapes and sizes.

"That sphere is Snake's home planet, Earth." Lucario explains. "Pity really...such a beautiful world is slowly getting scarred by battles among earthlings...I only view it so I can see all of the stars around it."

Blaze's attention is diverted from the sphere to her surroundings, noticing that, like the pokemon said, millions of white dots populated there, along with a massive rift of blue and indigo; the inside of the galaxy.

Once again the feline zooms back out to the galaxy, then zooms in again. This time she lands on a star similar to Earth's, only this one has five planets in orbit around it, which are fenced in by an asteroid belt. Blaze quickly taps on the homeworld, zooming in on a planet that has the same colors as Earth, but differently shaped landmasses. "I recognize this place." she says, "Its Mobius, my home."

Over the next hour or so, the two have fun flying around the galaxy, peeking at planets and stars in every conceivable color and size. It only got more entertaining when Blaze discovered that she could zoom in on anything around a star, and greatly enjoyed getting enveloped in the beautiful mists and gases of Lylat's nebulae.

They looked at a small green and blue planet called Dreamland. Surrounding the planet are two rings in an 'X' shape, a trait shared by both the red giant it orbits, and three of the four other planets in the system. The most unusual thing about Dreamland is that its moon is bright gold and has several tall mountains that almost make it look like a five-pointed star.

They found a planet Lucario identified as Staria, a truly massive world composed of blue, green, tan, and red, but with one particular continent a charred black color. This planet is the home of Bowser, Mario, DK, and the like, all of them inhabiting separate continents such as the Mushroom Kingdom, the Koopa Kingdom, and Yoshi Island.

There is a particularly bizarre but pretty planet named Faydru, which seemed to be divided in half, one all land, the other all sea. Lucario (being the scholar he is) explained that the super-continent is Hyrule, Link's home, while the ocean is named The Great Sea, and is home to archipeligos and islands as well as Toon.

The last thing the two looked at is the planet of Pokenoa, perhaps the most beautiful of all the planets. The world is coated in green and blue, similar to Earth, but all of the colors are much sharper and bolder than those of Snake's home. The moon was a bit smaller than Earth's, but Pokenoa seemed a little bigger.

"Your home is beautiful Lucario." Blaze comments after he identified the planet, "Where do you live?"

"I don't live in one place or another...I wander all over this planet."

Thinking she heard a tone of sadness in his voice, Blaze cautiously replies with, "Oh...do you like Pokenoa?"

"Its alright...not perfect, but not hideously unbearable either." The pokemon replies, then zooms back out to the galaxy. "Its getting late, we should probably head off to bed. The fights are going to start tomorrow, and we'll need to be well-rested." He says, walking towards the door which ends the holograms as it opens. Blaze silently follows.

_Hmm...is he hiding something? Whether he is or not, its none of my business,_ Blaze thinks to herself, following the pokemon down to the second floor. _Still...I need to thank him for this..._

"Hey Lucario?" She asks as they round the corner into the hallway leading to the rooms.

"Yes Blaze?" Lucario asks, turning to her.

"Thanks for the tour of the galaxy and the wet...the rut...the..."

"The watmel berry?" Lucario suggests, holding back a chuckle.

"That's it! Thanks for that too...so..." she quickly gives the pokemon a hug. "Good night." she finishes before releasing him and hurrying off to her room.

Once the shock of the good-night hug wore off, Lucario manages to continue down the hall himself, but couldn't help trying to understand it. Why the hug tonight but not last night? Was it really because he took her to the observatory? Was it because they were together before retiring to bed this time? Or did she just feel like hugging him? He doubted it was the latter...he's not a very cuddly pokemon...then again, Colette did hug him earlier today.

Lucario sighs and drops it; social interactions never made sense to the loner, he'd just have to settle for Falco's answer; "You can't understand women."

The pokemon unlocks his room, noting again that he and Blaze are neighbors, then heads inside and re-locks the door. He yawns and stretches, noticing that the clock read 11:23, then notices something else...

"Damnit Mew, I told you not take up the whole bed!" Lucario curses, seeing that Mew was needlessly stretched out in the middle of the large bed. Everything Lucario was pondering over outside was forgotten while he shoved Mew over to one side, then quickly climbed in before the smaller pokemon could move back.

Mew didn't even twitch.

**

* * *

**

Spot the cameos? If not, here's a hint: They are known for a show instead of a game series. Also, before you ask...Yes, this mansion really does have every possible room. I don't even want to see Master Hand's electricity bill.

**Yes, I did put a lot of thought in overcoming continuity problems and facts from the games to unify everybody at a single point in time. Creating a home-planet for each "series" and then scattering them across a single galaxy is the best way I could think of accomplishing this while avoiding as much "strange science" as possible. Also, to answer a question from the last chapter, each hallway in the Trophy Wing corresponds to one of those homeworlds, the exceptions being "Metroid" and "StarFox" since those traverse numerous planets instead of just one.**


	20. Glimpsing

**Oy...sorry for being gone for so long. Well, this chapter kinda continues off the peaceful tone of the last one, which is probably going to hang around for the next few chapters in the future. The name of this chapter will probably give you a hint as to what the content is, but I won't spoil it for you.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 20 Glimpsing

The "adaptation period" has been going on for about and a week-and-a-half. Apart from the scheduled Clashes, life really wasn't all that outrageous in the mansion. You could lounge around and read, play in the arcade, watch movies in one of the dozen lounges, exercise in the gym/stadium room, whatever...the only thing required is that you attend all of the clashes scheduled for you.

Of course...that's excluding the fact that there are fifty-two beings with various powers/weapons and an intensive knowledge of fighting living under the same roof. Fortunately the only scuffle that is guaranteed to happen is Kirby interfering with the chefs; the rivals don't cross one another because of either the smashing-schedule or the sheer size of the mansion.

On the flip-side of things, the schedule also made it difficult for friends to hang out. Oftentimes the individuals of the groups would be assigned to clashes right after the other, making it nigh-impossible to hang-out or have a conversation at any time apart from the meals or after 7:50 PM (that's the estimated end-time of the last match of the day).

Luckily though, today is a day that breaks that pattern. Both Lucario and Blaze have one match scheduled for today, which happens to be the same one, and its the first one of the day which leaves the rest of it open. A perfect chance to finally start on that request Master gave the pokemon.

* * *

Lucario easily dodges the swings form Krystal's staff by backing up, but it wasn't a surprise the newcomer was going after the veteran; he had one life left and over one-hundred-fifty percent damage.

The pokemon's time looks up as Krystal finds a fresh Bob-omb at her feet, scoops it up, then throws it at him. Suddenly, Blaze comes flipping in from overhead, snatches the Bob-omb out of midair and chucks it back at the vixen.

Caught off guard by this, Krystal doesn't react in time and gets blown away, losing her last stock. "Nice reflexes Blaze." Lucario comments, "It takes skill to pluck anything out of a throw."

"Thanks, so lets see...Krystal's gone and so is Diddy..." a wicked smirk crosses her face, "Bye!" she yells spinning around and nailing Lucario with a flaming kick. It packed enough of a punch to push Lucario over the edge and win the match for Blaze.

All four smashers reappear on the panels, each a little sore from the match but otherwise fine. Diddy quickly hurries off, probably upset about being the first to lose, leaving the other three to share their words of congratulations.

"Good job Blaze." Krystal remarks, extending a hand towards the feline. "First time I've seen anyone with reflexes fast enough to snatch a bomb in flight."

"Thanks, but you were pretty good too," Blaze replies, politely shaking the vixen's offered hand. "That staff packs quite a wallop."

Krystal responds with a smile, then notices that Lucario looked like he was sulking. "You did a good job too Lucario, don't feel left out."

The pokemon's ear makes an agitated twitch upon her words, but otherwise his reply is friendly. "I don't, I'm just mulling over a few things." He answers, glancing down at her outstretched hand before shaking it.

"Well, I'd enjoy talking with you, but I agreed to meet Fox after the match." Krystal says, propping her staff against her shoulder and strolling out, leaving behind a polite, "Farewell!" while rounding the corner.

"So what're you going to be up to?" Blaze asks, stretching a little. "Got any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Actually, yes...and they involve you as well." Lucario replies.

"Me? What's..."

"Come along Blaze, I need to teach you about a secret of the Smash System." Lucario says before leaving. Being curious, the feline follows.

Not like he went very far, just right next door to the Stadium Room. Blaze curiously looks at the pokemon while he punches in a few commands to the computer. "So...what's the secret?"

"I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but as my damage percent goes up I start dealing more damage in return."

"Hmm...I have noticed you hit harder towards the end of a match, but I always thought you were just getting more determined to win."

"Well, that but I also possess that 'more hurt, harder hit' ability. So do you."

"Really?"

"You've never noticed that after taking several hard hits, your own power goes up?"

"No." Blaze answers, then nervously chuckles, "I get so swept in the battle that I don't notice how much or little damage I'm causing."

"That's perfectly understandable, however I'm going to teach you how to use this power effectively."

"What's there to learn? Take a lot of damage to deal more."

"Taking a lot of damage is going to make it easier for your opponent to knock you away and reset everything, regardless of how hard you hit. You need to understand how to balance the damage you receive with the amount you give back, which is where the stadium comes into play." Lucario pauses to gesture at the panels, "I'm going to put you through several runs and see how well you do. Remember to take enough damage to work for the situation, but not enough to make you vulnerable."

Blaze nods, then boards one of the panels and vanishes in a flash of light, reappearing on Battlefield with a Red and a Blue Alloy keeping her company. Immediately Blaze swings around for a kick and kills one of the computerized enemies, but finds herself slammed in the back by the red foe.

Immediately the feline could feel what could only be described as a tiny ember deep inside her. It is very weak and (if Lucario didn't tell her about it) would've easily gone unnoticed, but now she can feel it...and the slight increase in her pyrokinesis because of it.

Blaze whips around and slugs the Red Alloy in the face, sending it to the digital graveyard and bringing in two Yellow Alloys and a Green Alloy. The Green Alloy quickly dies from a flaming tackle and knocks a Yellow Alloy towards the far side of the stage, but misses the second yellow and gives it a chance to clobber Blaze from behind.

Just like Lucario explained, after taking that second hit Blaze could feel that ember grow just a little bit. Strange as it was, being able to bend all kinds of fire to her own will...Blaze never felt a fire inside of her before and as interesting as it was for her to feel her powers increase, she also felt...warmer.

Of course, the analysis would have to wait 'till later. Blaze quickly spun around in place and kicked the Yellow Alloy away, then rounded on an approaching Blue Alloy. Over the next few minutes, Blaze continues to fight off the alloys and whenever she takes a hit she can feel that inner-fire getting larger and more powerful. Finally, after at least eight minutes Blaze takes the last hit she could handle and is sent off the right end of the stage, reappearing on the panel in the Stadium Room a second later.

"So how'd I do?" Blaze asks, stepping off the panel and towards her friend.

"Very good, but not perfect. Of course, I never expected you to do it perfectly this time in the first place," Lucario replies, his tail swishing back and forth in a slow rhythm. "You seemed to have the most trouble with avoiding damage."

"Really? I thought I did pretty well."

"Maybe I should re-phrase it...you did avoid attacks well, but I noticed you have a tendency to place all of your focus on whatever is in front of you. A good percentage of the attacks that did hit came from behind."

"How am I supposed to know when someone's trying to sneak up on me?"

"You have to listen. Anytime anyone lands on a platform, they cause a thud. Listen for that and you'll know when someone is behind you."

"How am I supposed to hear those over the background music?"

"That I can't help you with. I sense the faint aura signatures of everyone in the match, so I have a rough idea of where each person is...you'll just have to try and figure out your own way." Lucario pauses to think, "To be honest, you can probably recognize a 'thump' against the music anyway."

"I'll try..." Blaze answers with a nod, despite her uncertainty.

"Its perfectly fine for you to mess up a little, nobody is perfect at something the first time through."

Blaze smiles at his reassurance before getting back on the panel and warping away, back into another Endless Clash. After about eight minutes, Blaze gets kicked out, receives some advice from Lucario, then goes back in. On her fourth time through, Falco happens to come in, hoping to get in a little training before a match later that day.

"Ah, I see you're waiting in line too." He says, noticing that Lucario was watching Blaze's battle on the computer screen.

"Actually I'm giving her a few lessons." Lucario replies, only glancing away from the screens for a second.

Falco glances over the pokemon's shoulder at the screens, then chuckles. "Helping out a lady are ya Luca? Trying to score some points?"

"What?!" Lucario exclaims, "That's not what its like in the least!"

"Then why are you acting so strongly? And what about that bridge of red over your nose?"

"I am not blushing!" The irony is, after he said that he actually starts visibly blushing from frustration.

"Yes you are." Falco teases, "You've got a thing for Blaze."

"No I don't!"

"You don't what?" Asks Blaze's voice, getting the two guys to turn towards her. She got knocked out of the system when they weren't looking.

"Blaze! I-"

"Lucario's got a crush on you." Falco says.

"No I don't!" Lucario retorts, his blush getting worse.

"Then why are you turning redder?"

"Because you keep acting like you!" Lucario answers.

"All I'm doing is saying things, its your reactions that are screwing you." Falco smirks, "And if you keep saying there's no truth to these things, why are you letting it get to you?"

Lucario pulls a sour look and turns away, refusing to verbally respond to the bird.

Blaze has been giggling to herself throughout this whole conversation. She knows that Falco is only teasing, but Lucario's reactions are what really got her going. He always seems like the guy that refuses to let things get to him, that had a good heart but a faint air of "Go ahead and do what you want, it won't bug me." Now his whole muzzle is a shade of beet-red, and the pokemon is childishly refusing to respond.

After a little more teasing, Blaze figures enough is enough. "Alright Falco, leave him be. Lucario was just helping me come to grips with a power we share," she explains.

"You mean that "You hit me, I hit you harder" power?"

"Yea, that one. All Lucario was doing was helping me understand and use it." She turns around and rests a hand on Lucario's shoulder. "Right?"

Lucario turns and looks at her, nods, and says "Ri-" before suddenly gasping and clutching his ribs.

"Luca!" Falco exclaims, hurrying to his buddy's side while the pokemon fell to his knees, Blaze looking on in fright.

"S-sor-ry. Its an-"

"Don't talk man, I get it. Go do what ya gotta do. Need any help?"

Lucario shakes his head before struggling upright and staggering out of the room. Blaze starts to follow, but stops when Falco grabs her arm. "Don't princess."

"What are you talking about Falco? Lucario's hurt, we-"

"Need to give the guy some space." Falco finishes, "His aura is backed-up."

"What?"

"Luca fights with his aura right? In order to do that, his aura is more energetic than yours or mine. Every now and then, he builds up too much and has to go vent it. Since its pretty much a powerful discharge, he won't do it anyplace wheres someone else can get hurt." Falco's beak turns into an understanding smile. "I know you want to go help him, I wanted to the first time I saw him like that. But that built up aura hurts, so going near him will only make it worse-"

"Because he won't release it until a safe distance from everyone else?" Blaze finishes.

Falco nods, "Bingo." His hand releases her arm and gently pats her shoulder, "Don't worry about the guy, he'll come out of hiding once its gone and you two can go back to your da-...I mean, training then."

The avian smirks at the feline and gets a playful punch in the side for his suggestion. "Go ahead and start your own training, I was going to ask if we could stop for the day." Blaze replies before leaving.

Falco only chuckles to himself, "You know you've got good friends when they don't mind if you tease 'em." Then punches in his own stadium selection before going into his own training.

Out in the foyer, Blaze happens to bump into Peach, a concerned look present on the pink princess. "I just saw Lucario leaving-" She says, but Blaze interrupts before Peach could continue.

"He's just got too much aura." Blaze explains, "He'll be fine."

"Oh...that's good." Peach replies, but the cat could've sworn she heard a tiny hint of distaste in her voice. "How did you know?"

"We've been training together over the past hour or so."

Peach's face quickly wrinkles, like she just smelled something terrible, but it relaxes before a second passes. "Blaze, I need to tell you something. Don't spend so much time around Lucario."

"Why not?"

"Why not?" Peach parrots, "I've always been getting a bad feeling about him, ever since Brawl. He was rude, obnoxious, and self-centered...how he made friends I don't know, but just be careful around him. I don't want a fellow princess getting hurt by someone like that." Before Blaze could even reply, Peach quickly trots off.

_Why should I listen to you?_ Blaze thinks to herself, glaring after Peach. _Lucario's never acted that way to me, so I'll still trust him._

After that resolute decision Blaze strolls into the study, then up to some of the bookcases, looking for anything that might perk up her interest. Finally she settles on one, a book with a deep-brown spine and black lettering that is titled "_Myths and Legends of Pokenoa_", then seats herself on the left couch and opens the window, allowing a pleasant breeze to come in and tickle the back of her neck.

After a chapter, Blaze decides to get a little more comfortable. She kicks off her heels, then spins to lean against the arm of the couch and stretches out her legs on the remainder of the furniture. The princess grins to herself as the cool breeze now blows into her face, then goes back to reading.

She can't help but whistle at some of the mythical pokemon that lurked on Lucario's home-planet. They ranged from the tiny, time-traveler Celebi to the gigantic Groudon that was said to give rise to the continents. One of her favorites though, is Moltres...the mighty bird of fire said to live in volcanoes and signal the coming of spring.

After reading its legend, Blaze removes one of her gloves and places it in the book to mark her place while she hurries off to her room, quickly returning with another book and a couple pencils. She turns the pages of "_Myths_" back to the description of Moltres, reads it a few times, then starts thinking.

* * *

Lucario takes a few deep breaths, sighing from the relief his discharges brought. "Much better...I've got it under control now." he mutters, then turns away from the charred boulder he was venting on and heads back to the mansion.

He enters the foyer and turns for the study, hoping to find some kind of novel to occupy him. Instead he sees Blaze reclining in one of the couches, facing away from the door and doing...something. Silently the pokemon walks up to the princess and stands just behind her, curious.

Blaze is drawing what looks to be a Moltres. The bird wasn't finished yet, but it appears to be standing on a mountain-top, its wings proudly open as if it is a king. The head is still missing, but judging by what Blaze had drawn so far, it was looking at the upper left corner of the page. Still, its a very impressive sketch considering Blaze has never seen a Moltres before...she had even gone as far as putting cracks in the mountain and embers falling from the bird's wings and tail.

Lucario watches in silent awe as the feline works on the rest of the sketch. It is amazing seeing her draw, every line and curve fit beautifully in with the rest of the drawing and rarely did she have to use the eraser. The pencil flits quickly and precisely over the paper like a dancer, leaving its marks that slowly form into a Moltres head...there was just one little problem...

"Moltres have longer beaks." Lucario says.

Once again, his silence betrays him...Blaze jumps with a gasp from the sudden words, the books go tumbling to the ground, and the pencil goes soaring off...somewhere.

"Lu-lucario..." she gasps, breathing heavily from the shock. "I'm seriously thinking about putting a bell on you."

"My apologies, I didn't mean to surprise you."

"That's okay, you just made my heart-rate spike...good thing I've got nine lives."

Lucario raises an eyebrow before reaching down for her books.

"Sorry, bad joke."

"Hmm...well, it looks like your sketch isn't harmed, and neither is this book." Lucario states before handing it over to her.

"Thanks, any idea where my pencil went?"

"Hold on..." Lucario says, switching to aura-sight and hoping to find a residual field around Blaze's pencil. As he looks around, he comments, "You know, that's a very good sketch."

"Thanks again, I am pretty good, but I'm no pro."

He glances around at the chairs, no luck. "How did you get so good? Lots of practice?"

"Well, yea there's that and..."

"And..." Lucario coaxes, hoping to get Blaze to continue.

She sighs, "I'm a princess and as such, I was expected to be 'culturally sophisticated' or something like that, which meant I had to learn something like playing the piano, painting, violin, or such. I chose sketching because that seemed like the only one I'd actually enjoy...but the teacher my advisors hired almost ruined it for me."

"Oh." Lucario says, not expecting such an answer. "I-uh...suppose I should apologize for earlier. I feel like I dragged you along and forced the training on you."

"No! No its...its fine!" Blaze quickly says, "I wasn't relating you to him at all. My sketching teacher was a total jerk, but you're really nice and understanding and..." The princess clasps her mouth shut before it could turn on her.

Lucario stifles the snickers, her aura had changed into electric pink (pure embarrassment), but then groans. "How hard is it to find a pencil?" He asks.

"Hi Blaze, Luca." chirps Colette's voice. "What are you two doing?"

Lucario turns to the angel and sees that her aura field is deep-blue (Happy) mixed with sky-blue (Innocence) and tan (Curiosity). "I'm trying to help Blaze find the pencil she dropped when I spooked her."

"I'll help."

"You don't have to Colette." Blaze says.

"No its fine." The angel says turning to go check by the chairs, "I don-whoops!" She suddenly tumbles over backwards, landing flat on her back. "I'm okay!" she says before either of her friends could react.

Her blue eyes blink open and see... "Hey Blaze? Is this it?" Colette asks, lifting up the very pencil that Lucario had been struggling to find this whole time.

"Yes!" Blaze exclaims.

Colette grins at the cat as she stands up, then hands over the object with a polite, "Here you go."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Colette happily replies, then turns to Lucario. "Luca? Can you come with me for a sec?"

Lucario, now looking at her in normal sight, nods and follows the angel out of the room. The two climb up the stairs and head down toward the fighter suites.

They stop at suite number 30, presumably Colette's room, and head inside. The room hadn't really changed much...instead of black and white is was changed to white and deep-blue, but that was it. The color scheme went unnoticed when they saw Falco sitting in front of the computer.

"Falco?"

"Hey Luca." The avian replies, not even bothering to look away from the electronic device.

"Falco's been helping me look over my most recent match. Something went wrong and I needed someone who knew how to use this." Colette explains, pointing at the computer.

"Went wrong? Look Colette I know bad luck can..."

"Luca, this wasn't bad luck. See for yourself." Falco says.

The pokemon looks over the avian's shoulder at the computer screen. The replay is paused and the four battlers are at various places on the Pirate Ship level; G&W is up on top of the mast, Marth is hanging off the front, Sheik isn't present (presumably being placed on the revival pad), and Colette is standing at the back of the boat with a pokeball in hand.

Falco presses one of the keys and starts playback; causing Sheik to reappear, G&W to jump into the air and go diving towards Marth with a key, and Colette to toss pokeball. After maybe ten seconds, Falco pauses and glances at the pokemon.

"I'm not seeing it." Lucario admits.

"Here..." Falco says, re-winding it to the first point. "Watch Colette's pokeball."

Lucario watches as Falco resumes playback. The sphere gets thrown...flies to the middle of the ship, bursts open, then nothing.

"Nothing's there."

"Exactly dude, _nothing _came out of Colette's pokeball when she threw it. No Staryu went flying away, no Mew, no Celebi...nothing came out." To prove his point Falco backs it up a few seconds then plays it again.

Sure enough, nothing emerged from the ball. It opened and there was that light flash, but no pokemon appeared to help the angel.

"What the...did you tell Master Hand about it?"

"Yes, we told Master Hand but he thinks it was a...a..." Colette stops, unable to remember the right term.

"A glitch, but I ain't buying it. When have you ever known the Smash System to be glitchy? This is Master Hand we're talking about, he doesn't leave room for glitches."

"So you think Master's lying?" Lucario asks.

"Well...no, but still...90,000 pokeballs open and send pokemon out into the battle and then, all of sudden, one malfunctions?" Falco asks back.

"Did it happen again?"

"No, I lost after getting hit by a...I think it was called Snorlack." Colette answers.

"You mean a Snorlax?" Lucario asks.

Colette nods, "That was it."

"Okay, so the pokeballs work flawlessly since they've been introduced, then one fails, then they start working again?"

"Pretty much." Falco answers.

After some thinking, Lucario says, "Maybe it was just a glitch."

"Lucario..."

"Well someone can't be manipulating the system. Not only is it self-contained but if somebody _did_ want to screw around, why make the pokeball fail that one time only?"

Falco thinks it over in his head, but quickly gets frustrated in the circle he's going in. "Gah...maybe you're right. I don't know." Falco admits.

"Someone used a screw to ruin the pokeball?" Colette asks.

"No no, its an expression." Lucario explains, "Screwing around means to mess around with something."

"They made a mess?"

"Never mind." Lucario answers. "Look, its almost lunchtime, lets just chalk this up to bad luck and move on."

"Do you have any chalk?"

"No, its another expression."

"Oh...well...chalk, screws, and messes aside, lets go eat!" Colette cheers, then hurries out.

Falco meanwhile was hiding his chuckles behind his hand. "Oh...that girl does not understand figures-of-speech."

"So she's a little dense, big deal. Doesn't take away from her at all." Lucario replies.

"Eh, I guess so." Falco shrugs, getting up out of the chair and strolling past Lucario. "And Luca, don't be getting unfaithful to Blaze now." He says, then bolts.

"Falco!" Lucario roars before giving chase.

* * *

The rest of the day passes by uneventfully. Matches are fought, with not a single glitch in sight, the day-light turns into night, and finally dinner comes; with the usual rumble of so many conversations happening at once.

This night however, something different happens. Peach stands up from her table and taps her spoon to her glass to catch everyone's attention.

"Your attention please!" She proclaims, making sure the rest of the smashers are focused on her. "I have a very special announcement for you all! After talking things over with Master Hand, the very first Smasher's Ball will be held in about two weeks!"

Peach's voice is cheery throughout this news, but most of the smashers groan. Seriously? A ball whose only attendees would be warriors/fighters?!

"Now now, if you're thinking this will be a typical ball with dresses, suits, an orchestra and ballroom dancing, you all are wrong. This is just a simple dance night, complete with music and snacks. You don't even have to find a date, all I ask is for you to show up and get a little more dressy than usual. It is sure to be plenty of fun so be ready! Its all happening in two weeks!" With that, she sits back down.

The corrections seem to have lifted everyone's spirits a little, at least it now sounded fun and most of the smashers are willing to give it a shot. They've learned though experience that Peach is not a girl to cross, unless you want a frying pan in your face.

Of course...for a couple smashers it would soon become a pain-in-the-ass...

**

* * *

**

Hope this makes up for my long overdue update. Hopefully, now that I've got the story planned out to the end AND I'm managing my time better, I can update a bit more frequently. I should probably warn you though, a lot of things in this chapter probably won't work out like you think (winks).

**Oh, and as for Colette not understanding the "figures of speech" I remember from several skits that she tends to take things literally...I'm still doing my best, but if anything's still off please (politely!) correct me!**


	21. Movie Night

**A slight warning; if you haven't watched Star Wars Episodes 4, 5, or 6, there are slight spoilers in this chapter. They are easily noticed though, so you can just skip over the paragraph holding them if you so wish.**

**Oh, and I've added a segment to my profile that explains what each font style means: but I'll repeat it simply here. Remember, these rules only apply to this story from this chapter onward.**

Normal: Basic speech, no different from you talking aloud.

_Italics, unquoted_: Private thoughts or a stressed word for sarcasm or seriousness

_"Quoted Italics"_: Telepathic speech or speakre communication (like the intercom system from the fighting chapters a while ago).

**Bold: **Either Authorial Notes or extremely loud yelling.

* * *

Chapter 21 Movie Night

Blaze releases a giant grunt of frustration while slamming the door to her room. She walks over and quietly sits down on her bed while rubbing at her temples. "Easy Blaze, just calm down...Relax. Don't let her get to you..." she mutters to herself.

A couple knocks come from her door.

_And there goes my peace..._ Blaze angrily thinks while getting and marching towards the door. "For the last time Peach I-" she stops after opening it, finding Lucario on the other side, "Oh! Hi Lucario. Sorry, I thought you might've been Peach."

"Its alright, can I ask what's wrong?" The pokemon replies, keeping his eyes shut for whatever reason.

"I'll tell you only if you explain why-"

"My eyes are closed? Took several Deku Nuts to the face at the end of the fight I just came from. My ears have recovered, but not my eyes." Lucario explains, "Don't worry about me, I can still see in aura-sight."

"Okay, well...Peach has been stalking me all day, trying to get me to join her and the other girls for a 'dress-fitting' for the dance." Blaze grumbles, "Ugh, its still a dozen days away and she's freaking out like its starting in two hours."

Lucario 'hmms' to show he understands, "I understand what you mean, I had to let Falco hide out in my room yesterday because Peach was stalking him."

"For what?"

"Something about setting up the sound system. Falco is a fairly, electronics-oriented guy so I guess Peach figured she'd have him set up the speakers."

"With thirteen days to go?" Blaze asks, the look on her face suggesting that she thought he's kidding.

"Honest. But that's Peach...if everything isn't perfect, she'll go bezerk until it is." Lucario admits, "The main issue is, are you alright?"

"Just a bit of a headache from listening to Peach's shrill complaints." Blaze grumbles, putting a hand back to her head. "Where are my manners, care to come in?"

Lucario shrugs, but still walks in past the princess, hearing her close the door.

"You can probably open your eyes, I've got the lights turned down to keep from aggrevating my headache."

Slowly, Lucario opens his deep-red eyes to see the room. Just like Blaze said, the lights are dimmed (which is nice and easy on the lingering soreness in his pupils) but there is still enough to see the new color scheme; a combination of incredibly pale-pink and soft lavender.

"So what about you?" Blaze asks, sitting down on her bed and facing the pokemon, "Has Peach been stalking you?"

"No. She and I don't exactly see eye-to-eye all the time."

"Lucky," Blaze scoffs, "I think the only reason Peach is following me around everywhere is because she thinks I'm interested in this dance of hers, just because I'm a princess."

"What makes you say that?"

"We walked right by Ashe and May and she didn't even turn to them. Her entire attention was focused on me."

"And that bothers you?"

"Of course it bothers me!" Blaze shouts, causing some embers to shoot out of her hands and the light resulting from it to force Lucario back to aura-sight. "Wouldn't it bother you if someone was chasing you everywhere, trying to get you to do something just because of some dumb-ass label?!" More embers coming flying out.

"Yea..." Lucario replies.

Blaze's ears quickly lean back, "Lucario...I didn't...I forgot about what you told me in the observatory, sorry. I was just so angry with Peach that-"

"No, no, its alright...no harm done." Lucario replies. "Although you might want to keep that temper in check...there are plenty of flammable things in here, including me."

"Again, sorry...my fire gets a little more energetic when I'm mad."

_I know that..._

"Well, anyway...was there some reason why you came knocking?"

"Apart from checking to see if you were okay, I'm curious if you're interested in joining myself and a couple others for a movie night in one of the lounges. Just popcorn, flicks, and friends; no Peach."

"What are the movies?"

"Falco would only tell me that they fall in the Sci-fi, fantasy groups. Nothing else."

"Sure. I just don't want to watch a bunch of horror movies, then not be able to sleep without scaring myself."

"Don't worry, Falco may be a prankster, but he's a bird of his word. I'll let him know you're in." Lucario says before turning and walking for the door, "Lounge seven at seven fourty-five is when it starts. And Blaze?" Lucario asks, turning around to face her. "If they _were_ horror flicks, you could always just spend the night in my room." He finishes with a slight smirk.

"Out!" Blaze says, giggling a little at Lucario's joke.

"What's the matter, scared of the evil ghosties and scary monsters?" He asks, using a little baby talk.

"I said out!" Blaze repeats, this time tossing a pillow at him for emphasis. Lucario swiftly runs out of the room, snickering to himself. The princess only sighs while shaking her head.

* * *

Deciding to arrive a little early, Blaze gently knocks on the door to Lounge Seven at 7:40, smiling as Lucario opens the door.

"Evening Blaze, a little early aren't you?"

"Better early than late. I see your eyes are better."

"A nice two-hour nap in the dark will do that." Lucario replies with a small smile, "Come on in, we're almost ready to start."

The pokemon stands aside to let Blaze in, smirking a little as the princess gasps at the luxurious room. Hanging on the wall directly opposite her is a giant, plasma-TV at least a 67-inch. Sitting beneath the TV is an entertainment center with a large DVD player, some kind of control box, and two or three remotes.

Blaze can also see at least four speakers hanging from the ceiling, each one no doubt wired to the control box for a surround sound system. The only piece of non-sound-equipment up there is a simple five-bladed ceiling fan, idly rotating at a leisurely pace to keep the air from becoming stale.

Present on the ground of the twenty-by-twenty room are a single couch that seats three, two chairs beside it, and a couple bean-bag chairs lying in front of the larger pieces of furniture. The whole room itself is painted a dull, burnt-red shade with gray trim running along the floor and burnt-red carpet covering the floor.

The rest of the crowd seems to already be present; Shiek is leaning back in the chairs (which turned out to be recliners), the top of Sonic's head can be seen over the couch so its a safe bet he's in one of the bean-bags, Lloyd's spiky hair can also be seen near the squishy furniture, Colette seems to be fascinated by the bowl of popcorn in her lap, Meta is perched on one arm of the couch, and Falco is messing around with the DVD player.

"So what are these called again?" Collete asks, picking up and looking at one of the kernels.

"Popcorn." Meta explains, "A special variety of corn that pops into these fluffy, crunchy treats when heated for long enough." The little knight grabs a few kernels, lifts the bottom of his mask just enough to toss the snacks into his mouth from below, then replaces the mask while chewing away.

"Never found anything like this in Sylvarant...or Tethe'alla now that I think about it." Lloyd comments, who has a bowl to himself.

While those three continue talking about popcorn, Sonic snickers to himself over Falco's frustration, and Shiek (finally) notices the last guest has arrived.

"Hey Blaze!" Shiek greets, giving the princess a quick wave, "If you got here sooner, you'd have your pick of the seats, but since you're the last one to arrive, you've got to share the couch with Lucario, Meta, and Mew."

"What about that bean-bag right there?" Blaze asks, pointing at the empty sack in-between Sonic and Lloyd.

"That's mine!" Falco yells from his spot. "And my feathered butt would be in it right now if this blasted machine would just cooperate!"

Blaze leans a little closer to Lucario and whispers, "I thought you said he was good with electronics."

"Its not his fault, even the best person can have a stroke of bad luck." Lucario replies, in a voice just as soft. "Now then, shall we take our seats? Mew will be back with a few more bowls of popcorn any second now."

Blaze nods and follows Lucario around the furniture before taking a seat beside the pokemon, with him between her and Meta. A couple seconds pass before the door opens on its own and Mew floats in, two bowls of popcorn floating in the air at shoulder height and a third held up by his tail.

"Salty treats for all!" Mew cheers, as he telekinetically shuts the door behind him, then floats up to the rest of the group; giving one of the psychicly held bowls to Shiek and the other to Sonic. After setting the bowl on his tail down between Lucario and Blaze, Mew perches himself on the back of the couch between the two.

A couple seconds after that, Falco backs away from the DVD player, having finally turned it on, then plops down into the empty bean-bag while the machine loads the digital movie; remote control in hand.

The obligatory (and annoyingly persistant) copyright-infringement-punishment warning stays on-screen for a few seconds before it goes blank again. Considering that most of the participating planets _don't_ have DVD-players (or electronics in some cases), these warning probably don't apply to the smashers, but Master Hand took the simpliest option; just buy the DVD's from Earth stores and take them back to the mansion. It was a lot easier then seeking out the alternative route of legally copying the movies (and special features) into the Smash System's database.

A few more seconds pass and suddenly the speakers roar into life as the machine loads a THX advertisement, spooking Lloyd, Shiek, and Colette into jumping and sending small handfuls of their popcorn into the air.

"Relax guys! Its just the audio," Falco says, snickering to himself.

"But, its so loud...like its coming from everywhere." Lloyd comments.

"It technically is. Each lounge is equipped with an 8.4 surround sound system, for complete audio immersion." Meta explains, gesutring towards the speakers hanging from the ceiling.

"8.4? Audio immersion?" Colette parrots.

"Its a fancy way of saying the sound you hear matches with the movie. Like if someone on the left makes a noise, you hear that noise more on your left then the right." Falco explains, "The 8.4 refers to the number of speakers, we've got eight normal speakers; one in each corner of the room and another between them, plus four subwoofers in the walls for the really deep sounds."

"But that's twelve." Lloyd states.

"A subwoofer only counts as point-one of a speaker." Falco answers, "Don't ask me why, this is just an improved version of the Earth's 5.1 system; and they classify subwoofers as point-one of a speaker."

The two Sylvaranti quiet down, now somewhat fascinated by the DVD's main menu; as is the rest of the audience.

"Star Wars Episode Four, A New Hope?" Sonic asks, reading the title from the screen. "What's this?"

"Some really good movie judging by the preview I watched in the movie library. Its also really popular back on Earth judging by the huge franchise it spawned."

"Why are we watching Epsiode Four first?" Blaze asks. "Shouldn't we start with One?"

"I would've, but according the info-card for this movie, its better to watch Four, then Five, then Six, and then go One-Two-Three. They were kinda designed and filmed in that order."

Meta sighs, grumbling something about "humans being so strange" under his breath.

Well, all concerns quickly vanish as the movie starts playing. From the opening scene and the deep rumbling as a Star Destroyer flies by, to the nick-of-time escape from the Death Star, to the nail-biting "trench scene," the entire movie blows away any expectations of the smashers and leaves a great impression.

"Woo!" Sonic cheers as the credits start rolling, "Aw man that was awesome!"

"I know! I've pulled off plenty of dangerous stunts in Lylat, but that Luke kid almost bested me!" Falco adds.

"And those lightsaber duels!" Lloyd adds, "Those are almost as cool as my swords!"

"I liked the whole thing!" Colette cheers.

"What about that Darth Vader guy?" Meta asks, his voice actually carrying a tone of interest. "Can't find anyone that cold on Popstar."

"Yea, but Han Solo totally owned him with a couple well-aimed laser blasts!" Mew replies, flying cartwheels in the room.

Once the crowd settles down, everyone takes a minute to stretch and move around while Mew flies off to fetch a few more bowls of popcorn. "Hey Sonic? I could've sworn I've heard something in your neck of the woods that's a lot like that Death Star." Falco states.

"How can you forget about the Eclipse Cannon? Shadow blasted you with it in a match today." Sonic replies. "I suppose its similar, but the Space Colony its a part of is more of a research base than a battle station. Plus, it needs all seven Chaos Emeralds to actually reach that level of power."

"What's a Chaos Emerald?" Colette curiously asks.

"Seven jewels of ancient origins and great power. Those guys cause quite a bit of trouble on Mobius, but I need them to turn into Super Sonic."

"How often does that happen?" Lloyd asks.

"More than you'd think..." Sonic sighs. "What about you? Got any sort of super items like them on Sylvarant?"

"Nothing springs to mind...I suppose the Summon Spirits might count, by they aren't items..." Lloyd replies, doing his best to recollect everything about his adventures back home.

"I don't think so...Cruxis Crystals kinda count, but they aren't as powerful." Collete adds.

"Cruxis Crystals?" Shiek parrots. "What are those?"

"This is one," Colette replies, pointing at her necklace. "Not only does this mark me as a chosen, but it also lets me create my chakrams and sprout wings. Only angels like Lloyd and I can use them though..."

"Hmm, well Hyrule has plenty of powerful, ancient relics and objects lying around, but they're usually hidden away in old temples and caves so nobody really knows how many there are." Shiek replies, closing her eyes and leaning back in the chair.

"Dream Land doesn't have much of those...just a small handful of weapons that Kirby and I can use." Meta adds, shuffling a little on his perch.

"If Lylat does have any fancy, oogy-boogy items I haven't found or heard of 'em." Falco states. "We're more of a technological race than an ancient, mystical one."

"What about Pokenoa Lucario?" Lloyd asks.

"Nothing I've ever heard of. There are items that increase a Pokemon's power if they hold it, but those are fairly common."

"Well, in addition to the Chaos Emeralds, there are also the Sol Emeralds." Blaze states, "They're a lot like the Chaos Emeralds, but work a little differently and can cause a violent reaction if brought too close to a Chaos Emerald."

Sonic nods, "And then add in the Master Emerald which can negate the power of Chaos and Sol emeralds, and you've got a ton of powerful jewels."

"Wow, you've got a lot of things to keep track of." Colette comments.

Sonic and Blaze laugh, "Yea, we do." They both say. "It doesn't help that all but the Master Emerald have a tendency to hide all over the world." Sonic adds.

"Ugh, makes me grateful for the tech of Lylat. I'd go crazy having to search all over the world time and time again." Falco groans, just as the last FBI warning of the movie ends and the main menu loads.

A second after that, Mew comes in with three more bowls of popcorn. "Alright guys, make this last. Pit almost went insane after hearing how much popcorn we made tonight."

"What?" Shiek asks in disbelief. "But there are like, fifty bags in the pantries on any given day."

"Yea well, I tried that. Pit responded with a badly aimed tackle so I got out of there." Mew replies, "Here, this is all that I managed to make before getting attacked."

Mew psychically moves two of the bowls to Falco and Colette, placing the last bowl between Lucario and Blaze while reclaiming his perch on the couch.

Episode Five passes by in about an hour, leaving the audience impressed, but mostly dumb-struck.

"No _way_ is Vader telling the truth." Lucario states, "He _has_ to be lying...there's just no way."

"What kind of father would cut his son's hand off?" Lloyd adds, "At least Luke got away with his life."

"Yes now hurry up Falco!" Meta impatiently yells, " Start the next episode!"

"There's only so fast these machines can load, yelling won't help." Falco flatly replies.

Meta grunts and crosses his arms (err, gloves).

A few minutes pass before the next movie finishes loading and starts. By its end an hour or so later, all the friends are cheering; the Empire is beaten, the Emperor is dead, and Darth Vader redeemed himself.

"Now that's how you end a trilogy!" Falco proclaims. "Oh man that was awesome...I loved when the Falcon was flying away from the explosion in the Darth Star, I've never done anything like that before."

"I'm liking how those Ewoks beat those giant machines with logs, ropes, and axes." Lloyd remarks. "Goes to show you, technology doesn't always ensure victory."

"Personally, I like the party those Ewoks threw when the Rebels won." Sonic comments. "Those are the kind of celebrations I like, small and fun."

"You don't like large parties Sonic?" Meta asks, sounding interested; like it was something he assumed he enjoyed.

"Hey I like those too, but I _prefer_ a smaller party...just my friends and I goofing around and having a good time." The hedgehog sighs, "That's the best."

"I'll agree with ya there." Falco states, "Everytime my team does something that saves Corneria, we have to go through this ridiculuosly large celebration...at least the five or six of us throw ourselves a smaller party afterwards aboard the Great Fox...those are always fun."

"You've got a point, a small party with just your friends is pretty nice." Colette states, her eyes half-shut from a combination of sleepiness and nostalgia. "We've got to go through the large ones every now and then, since we saved Sylvarant and Tethe'alla twice and those are a lot of fun sometimes, but I still prefer being with all my friends, right Lloyd?"

The swordsman mumbles an agreement through a yawn.

"I'm with all of you, those large gatherings are annoying." Blaze sourly states, "I've had to deal with so many that I'm sick of 'em. What about you?" she asks, turning to Lucario.

The pokemon shifts his glance elsewhere. "No preference," he mumbles, "If you'll excuse me." He stands up and leaves...with his tail drooping behind him. Mew sighs before following after him

His friend watch him walk away for a second before Sheik face-palms. "Blast it, we completely forgot!" she exclaims. Sonic, Falco, and Meta all groan while shaking their heads, but Colette, Lloyd, and Blaze all look confused.

"Forgot what?" Lloyd asks.

"Well, you three have to realize something...Lucario doesn't get treated the same way we do." Shiek states. "We all get to enjoy these parties and gatherings with music and good food...he doesn't."

"What do you mean? Aren't we all heroes?" Colette asks.

"In the context of the mansion and our fellow smashers, yes Lucario is just as much of a hero as you or me. In the context of his home...not in the slightest."

"But going off the stories I heard, Lucario was one of the most powerful, vigilant fighters against the Subspace Army...why isn't he treated like a hero?"

"You didn't even know about the Subspace Army until you came here." Shiek states, "That's because Master Hand didn't want us telling our homes about this super-powerful dark army that almost got loose; mainly to avoid causing a panic. No-one on Pokenoa, save Pikachu, Jigglypuff, and Red and his pokemon knew about what happened, so Lucario still retains his "wild pokemon" status when on his home."

"Wild pokemon?" Colette repeats.

"A term that pokemon trainers use to label a pokemon that hasn't been caught by a trainer yet. If a wild pokemon should be caught in a trainer's pokeball, that pokemon becomes part of that trainer's team and can't be caught by a second trainer." Meta explains, "Lucario has the burden of being a wild pokemon, so any trainer that crosses his path is almost guaranteed to battle him with their pokemon in the hopes of weakening Lucario enough for a capture."

"To sum it up, Lucario is _attacked_ by the people on his homeworld while we get _honored_." Sonic states. "That's about all Lucario has or will tell us about his life back home...so here we are, talking about all the parties and celebrations that we get to enjoy, while Lucario's virtually persecuted wherever he goes."

"Oh...has Luca been to _any_ party?" Colette asks, her heart filling with guilt.

"Apart from the one after we beat the Subspace Army and the one at the end of Brawl, I seriously doubt it." Falco answers before glancing to the couch, "Hey, where'd Blaze go?"

* * *

"Lucario!" Blaze calls, hurrying after the pokemon that is several feet ahead of her.

The tall pokemon stops and turns around, curiously watching Blaze as she stops in front of him; Mew floating by his shoulder.

"Lucario, I...umm...want to..."

"Don't apologize, you didn't know." Lucario says.

"No, I...You told me that you wander across Pokenoa and now I understand why."

"The others explain things?"

Blaze nods. "And I feel a little bad for...for remarking on things I take for granted, but you can't even experience..."

"Blaze, I said its alright. You didn't know when you commented, so..."

"Yea I get it...it just doesn't make me feel any better." She pauses, "Umm...would it be alright if I walked back to the suites with you?"

Lucario gives the princess a smile before offering his hand. Blaze gently grasps it in her own and walks beside the pokemon around the last few corners before they arrived in the foyer.

Even though its barely a minute walk, it feels like an eternity to Blaze because of how lost she is in his hand's warmth. It isn't like any warmth she felt from someone else...even though its just naturally venting aura, the warmth is so comforting that the princess almost drops off to sleep in the foyer.

"Hey Blaze?" Lucario asks, snapping the feline out of her trance.

"Yes?"

"I...I hope that...never mind."

"No, go on...what is it?"

The pokemon sighs, "Now that you've learned so much about me, is this going to color your opinion of me?"

"What?!" Blaze asks in disbelief, "Of course it won't! Why would you even think that?!"

"I...I'm just being stupid." Lucario mutters, "Forgive my distrust, but I...I've been mistreated many times in the past."

"Lucario..." Blaze whispers, her eyes full of care and understanding. "I understand."

She's getting to look at a new side of Lucario right now. Before he's been cool, confident, and sure of himself...now his voice is shaky, and his eyes are nervously watching her. He isn't all confidence...right now he's vulnerable, unsure, maybe even scared. Blaze didn't find that unappealing in the least, with Lucario, it almost made her want to cuddle him; hold him and say that everything is alright.

Of course, being...herself...Blaze doesn't cuddle her friend, but she does draw him into a light hug. "Lucario, I'm not going to stop trusting you or stop being your friend until you give me a reason not to, okay?"

The pokemon lightly puts his own arms around the princess while whispering, "Thanks" into her ear. _I just hope you're making the right choice..._

"I know this is going to sound odd but...can you walk me to my room?" Blaze shyly asks, "After this...I don't want to go on my own just yet."

"Alright," Lucario says, breaking the hug, "Lets go..."

The two finish their trek up the staircase and down the halls to the suites, Mew following along behind them. The tiny pokemon heaves a sigh, "I've tried, Falco's tried, and Sonic's tried...I hope she can finally draw you out of your shell...for both of your sakes."

**

* * *

**

Perhaps I should give a revised disclaimer here. Since I mentioned Star Wars and various elements of it; I do not own any portion of the Star Wars franchise, they are all owned by George Lucas and his various companies. This also applies to Lucario, Falco, and all of the other characters that appear in this chapter; I do not own them either as they are owned by their appropriate companies.

**I must admit, it was quite fun writing the "first experience" of Star Wars for these characters. Its also fun poking fun at the FBI warnings; I know they are important and I'd never break any of them, but they're still irritating since you can't fast-forward through or skip over them like other previews. Also, yes...for whatever reason a subwoofer really is classified as 0.1 of a speaker system. I don't know why, but it is...at least now you know why its called 5.1 surround sound.**


	22. Tormenting Memories

**Oy...sorry for keeping you all waiting for another month. To be honest, this chapter (and its companion to a slightly lesser extent) seem a little..."meh" is probably the best word. I just can't seem to figure out why though...oh well, for those of you waiting for some action, it'll pick up in the next update. See ya then!**

* * *

Chapter 22 Tormenting Memories

Lucario sighs, this stupid dance idea of Peach's is becoming more trouble than its worth. Still four days to go and (if anything) the mushroom princess has become even more pushy and irritating than before. He isn't being targeted directly by the princess' nitpicking, but that didn't mean he wasn't _indirectly_ suffering.

Peach's attitude is starting to wear on some of the more surly smashers, and more often than not he'd have to endure her shrill complaints at someone else in the room. It's getting so bad that some smashers are overjoyed to have multiple fights in one day; more time away from Peach.

The thing Lucario couldn't understand is _why_ Peach is getting so much more irritating...she's already convinced every girl (save Blaze, who is still stubbornly refusing to comply) to go and even took them all dress shopping in town. Falco's already got the sound system working, ROB has been busy creating a playlist out of the manor's gigantic library, she even got Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun to agree to be an emergency back-up if the power goes out. Everything has been taken care of, _except_ Blaze.

Lucario chuckles while feeling a breeze lazily roll in through the open living room window and tickles the back of his neck. The more days that went by, the more he enjoyed having Blaze as a friend...she was so different from the other princesses that he couldn't figure out how she got the title in the first place. Blaze seems to adore hanging out with him, Sonic, and Falco instead of the other girls; plays a mean guitar on the mansion's Smash Band game; and even chose to hang out with the guys and play football on their free day yesterday instead of going with the rest of the girls up to the spa (well...Samus, Aile, and Ashe also decided against the spa, but they aren't princesses).

The pokemon sighs again before going back to his book, the next copy of _The Halfa_ manga. Sadly, his peace doesn't stay intact for long; soon he can the familiar voice of an upset Peach out in the foyer.

_Oh for the love of Arceus..._Lucario groans in his head while Peach storms in, closly following none other than the feline princess herself.

"Why are you so intent on getting me to go out for a new dress anyway?!" Blaze yells, spinning around to glare at Peach around the halfway point of the room. "Isn't this dress good enough?! And you did say that this was an informal party!"

"That doesn't mean you can't look nice!" Peach retorts, her voice slightly higher than usual and scraping the inside of Lucario's head worse than nails on a chalk-board. "What is so bad about a princess buying a new dress?!"

"For the umpteenth time, I'm. Not. Like you!" Blaze yells, "Why can't you get it through your head that I don't even like dresses?! I'd be strolling around in a T-shirt and slacks if my damn advisors would let me wear them!"

Peach gasps at that...special word Blaze had said, but quickly retaliates. "That's another thing we need to work on, your language. You're spouting words that princesses shouldn't say!"

Blaze yells in frustration while slamming her hands to her head, "Oh for...why do you even give a care as to what I say?!"

Peach turns red, but its more likely to be frustration instead of embarrassment. "I'm only trying to help you be a better princess!"

Blaze speaks again, this time muttering something to herself that didn't sound english...then again, it could've just been angry grumblings all slurred together. "I'll show you who's a better princess!" Blaze yells before forming a softball sized fireball in her hand and chucking it at Peach.

Thanks to her honed reaction time, Peach manages to whip out her frying pan and deflect the fireball, but accidently sent it toward the innocent bystander on the couch...

Lucario didn't even notice the fireball coming, he's too busy trying to tune out their argument. The fireball rapidly gets closer and is finally half-a-foot away when he notices it. By then it is too late, the orb slams into the side of his right arm and inflicts a painful blow, getting him to yell out in pain while clasping his left hand to it.

The pain...oh how it stings...this isn't just any old burn, this has a smoldering, lingering, seeping pain to it. Its so bad that his face scrunches up and he bites down on his tongue to keep another yell from erupting out.

"Lucario!" Blaze yells, all of her anger vanishing in an instant as she hurries to his side. Peach only stands there in a daze.

Resisting the urge to ask the obligatory "You okay?" question, Blaze instead asks, "Need any help?"

"No...I-I'll be fine..." Lucario grunts, getting up from the couch and hurrying out the door into the foyer.

He only manages to get to the top of the staircase before Blaze is at his side again this time with a hand on his left shoulder to both steady and try to comfort the pokemon. "I'm coming with you anyway...sorry, its my fault you got burned."

"It...its al-" he hisses when his arm bumps against the corner of the wall. "-alright."

They keep walking in silence all the way up to the infirmary. Doc always keeps this white room sparkling clean, so much so that the tile floor can be used as a mirror and the white paint on the walls shames the clouds. In the main room sit four exam beds, small mattresses on a basic wood frame that patients sit on for the treatment of minor wounds, that are tucked up against the wall opposite the door. To the left and right are sets of cabinets that hold Doc's supplies, medicine, and equipment as well as several journals for diagnosing and cure reference.

Placed between each of the exam beds is a door with a window in it and black lettering that read "Recovery Room 1" to "Recovery Room 3." The only other door is over on the right wall, but it lacks a window and its letters spell out "Operating Room" instead.

Doc is sitting in a rolling chair over by the left cabinets, idly flipping through one of his books to pass the time. Lucario clears his throat to get the man's attention, and is quickly lead over to one of the beds by him.

"My, my, it isn't often we see you in here Lucario." Doc states, eyeing the pokemon curiously. "What's the trouble?"

"I accidently burned him." Blaze states. "Well...I tossed a fireball at Peach and she deflected it towards him."

Doc nods, but doesn't verbally respond for a second. "Alright, come on now Lucario, move that hand. I need to see how bad it is."

Lucario does so, causing both Blaze and Doc to gasp at the wound. His blue fur is now charred black, there is a small red spot in the middle that looked more like burned skin than blood, and the whole thing appeared to be swelling.

"Aye!" Doc yells, "That's one nasty burn! Hang on a couple more seconds, I've got an icepack around here somewhere."

While he hurries off to check through his cabinets, Blaze glances at the wound again before her ears go back. "Now I really feel bad, I didn't think I made a large enough fireball to do this sort of damage."

"It isn't you to blame, its me." Lucario states.

"Don't go and try to take the blame to cheer me up, if I had managed to keep my cool-"

"Blaze, you had every right to explode at Peach. And I'm not trying to take the blame, it really is my fault the burn is and hurts so bad."

Blaze looks up at his mysterious ruby eyes and tries to search them for any signs of lying. "I don't understand..." she says, finding nothing but honesty in his gaze.

"Every pokemon has one or two elemental types that it is best with. These types denote what moves we specialize in, we shouldn't use, which moves deal less damage to us, and which ones hurt the most. My steel-type half is vulnerable to fire and extreme heat." Lucario explains. "I have a natural weakness towards fire, that's why this is so bad. Its not that you overpowered the fireball, its that I'm vulnerable to it."

"Oh...I'm still sorry for burning you." Blaze states, quickly getting out of the way so Doc can apply some burn cream to the angry wound. "If you're so weak to fire, is this going to..."

Lucario shakes his head. "If I didn't want you as a friend, I wouldn't have bothered to talk to you after our first match. Pyrokinetic or not, you're still my friend."

Blaze smiles at him as he winces from Doc tightening the bandage.

"There, that oughta keep it from getting worse." the doctor says. "Be glad its a lower second-degree burn. Any hotter and-" Doc quickly stops, realizing that Blaze might not take well what he was planning to say. "-lets not bother to think about that. I'll page Master Hand and tell him about your injury, I'd recommend getting some rest. Oh, and try not to bang that arm against anything, okay?"

Lucario nods before getting off the bed and glancing down at Blaze. Still sensing guilt in her aura, Lucario smiles before putting a paw on her shoulder. "I've been through worse Blaze, don't fret over it."

"I'm not sure if that makes me feel better." Blaze replies, cracking a tiny smile.

"Would you mind going back down to the living room and getting my book? I'll be waiting in my room." With that, Lucario trots off and disappears around the corner.

Before Blaze leaves as well, she can't help but ask Doc, "What did you mean Lucario doesn't come here often? Doesn't he get hurt?"

"Hmm? Oh yea, Lucario's been injured plenty of times; mostly through hanging out with Sonic and Falco."

"Then why doesn't he come here?"

Doc shrugs, "He prefers to take care of himself I guess. The only way you'll know is to ask Lucario."

"Alright, well...thanks." Blaze says, giving a quick wave good-bye.

"Later!" Doc calls as she hurries off then returns to his book.

* * *

Just like he said, Lucario was waiting on his bed by the time she got there. "Peach was gone by the time I got back down; that should explain why I got back up here so fast."

Lucario chuckles, while accepting the book. "Thank you. I must admit, it is entertaining to watch one princess stand up to another...especially Peach."

Blaze sighs. "Glad one of us likes it." she grumbles while sitting down on the foot of his bed. "Mind if I hang out here for awhile? I really need some time away from Peach, but I don't have any Clashes scheduled for the rest of the day."

Lucario shakes his head, "My room is yours. Stay as long as you want."

"Oy...Thanks." Blaze mutters, rubbing at her temples.

"If you've got a headache, a Razz Berry should help. I'm pretty sure I've got a couple in my bag." Lucario says gesturing over at his large, worn sack that is sitting by his computer. "Go ahead and take one."

"Thanks again..." Blaze grumbles while walking over to the sack and opening it up. Inside she could see some interesting rocks, a couple odd little crystals, another more sturdy looking sack, and what looked like a large book. Guessing that the berries are in the smaller sack, Blaze reaches in and grabs it, but when she's pulling her hand back out some of her glove's cuff gets tangled in the stitching of the large bag.

Before she could react, the whole bag comes off the table; spilling its contents all over the floor.

"Sorry!" She exclaims, quickly going to work picking up the rocks and other random objects.

"Its alright, no harm done." Lucario replies going back to his book.

The smaller items are quickly picked up, but Blaze freezes when she comes across the book. It was definitely a sturdy object, with its aged, brown, hard-leather binding with a gold trim. Its closed shut by a clasp, tipped in gold and made of flexible slightly lighter brown leather. For some reason, it just didn't seem to belong with a wanderer's assortment of objects.

"What is this?" Blaze asks.

"My journal. I scribble down anything important in it when it happens. I also use it a sketchbook." Lucario replies, shifting a little on the bed to get closer to Blaze. "You can take a look if you want."

Unable to resist her curiousity, Blaze unclasps the book and opens to the first page. A strange flex in the book's front cover is explained as a pencil slides out into her lap; but the cover imediately straightens out like nothing happened. That goes unoticed by what met her though; a beautiful full-page sketch of the sky at twilight, the last rays of the sun barely showing past a large mountain with a forest at its feet and clouds up by its head. Even though the whole thing is only black and white; it is so expertly drawn that she could easily imagine the color into it.

"You drew this?"

"Sort of. I cheat a little." Lucario answers, "I use my aura to mark out an area; then sketch that part in. When it comes to drawing without my aura guide; its no good, I can barely draw a circle."

Blaze nods to show she understood and continues flipping onward; admiring page after page of sketches. Some are like the twilight drawing, others look like informational sketchs in a biologist's log; complete with estimates and a couple notes. Some pages aren't drawings at all, but are divided up to separate journal entries. Some are even a combination of the two; one drawing of an Arcanine with two Growlithe at her feet takes up most of the page, but scribbed around the edges are "_This kind family let me sleep and dine with them tonight. I wish I could think of some way of returning her hospitalty towards me. Maybe if I get up early enough, I can find them breakfast before departing._"

"Did you enjoy spending the night with them?" Blaze asks, gesturing to the drawing of the three dogs.

After glancing down to see what she meant, Lucario replies. "Yes I did. It was a very kind thing for her to do; temporarily accepting such a grungy pokemon like me into her pack for the night, sharing her food and their warmth on that chilly winter night."

"Grungy?"

Lucario looks back at his book, but a little red appears on his face. "I...hadn't found any creek or river to wash in for awhile...even with an aura field keeping most of the dirt off, you still get dirty trekking across the world."

"Oh." Blaze replies, going back to the journal.

She knew she really shouldn't read the entries, even though he did give her permission to look at it, but her eyes couldn't help but read a couple. Strangely, they all seem to be a little...self-demeaning. She probably just wasn't understanding, but the entries all sounded as if Lucario was being hard on himself.

Things only get stranger when she comes across a sketch of Lucario himself. Instead of being the same warm friendly pokemon he is now, this drawing almost looked...evil. There was a wicked grin on his face, his eyes were furrowed into a glare, he seemed ready to lunge out and attack at any moment, and there was just this overall sense of...anxious forboding about it.

"I drew that after I had a nightmare." Lucario says, startling Blaze for a second. "That...evil self wouldn't stop haunting me, so I tried drawing it into paper to get it out of my head."

"Did it work?"

Lucario shrugs, "The nightmare went away, but I still see that image sometimes." he replies, sounding a little uneasy.

Sensing that her friend is starting to get agitated, Blaze closes the journal, replaces the pencil, and reclasps it before putting it away.

"So, which one is a Razz Berry?" Blaze asks, grabbing up the berry pouch and opening it.

"The small blue berry that has curly leaves."

Quickly picking out the appropriate one, Blaze pulls it out and pops it into her mouth; cringing a little as the bitterness grips and strangles her tongue.

He snickers, "Sorry about the taste, but it still helps."

"Thanks. Well, I'll leave now. Let you heal up in peace." Blaze says as she gets up and heads for the door, "Get well soon!"

"Later!" Lucario calls after her. The door shuts after her and Lucario casts a glance back down at his sack, sighs, then goes back to his manga.

* * *

After leaving, Blaze begins idlying wandering around the mansion; lost in her own guilt and thoughts. Her feet eventually carry her back down to the living room, the very place where all of this started, and she now finds Samus sitting on one of the couches; flipping through a small book of her own.

Eventually the blond bounty hunter notices Blaze in the doorway and asks, "What's up? You look a little confused."

Blaze sighs, she has no poker face and shouldn't even bother to try lying to Samus. Her occupation almost requires the ability to distinguish lies from the truth.

"That's 'cause I am." Blaze replies, walking over and sitting down next to the bounty hunter.

"This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Peach would it? I saw her wandering around in a daze just a minute ago."

"No...yes...kind of."

"Which is it?"

"She's involved, but she's not the reason."

Samus eyes Blaze out of the corner of her eye before glancing back to her book. After quickly noting the page number, she closes it and sets it aside. "Care to elaborate?" the blond asks, crossing her legs and eliciting a faint rustle from couch against Zero Suit.

"Well...Peach was being her normal, pain-in-the-ass self. I got mad and threw a fireball. She deflected it, and Lucario got hit in the arm."

Samus winces, "Ouch."

Blaze nods. "I helped him up to the infirmary, it got treated, then he went back to his room. I hung out there for a little bit before coming down here. He said I shouldn't worry, but I can't stop feeling guilty."

Samus leans back to think for a second, blowing at a strand of loose hair. "If Lucario said you shouldn't worry, then don't." she finally says after a bit of silence.

"But how can he just brush away something like me burning him? I still know its an accident, but that doesn't help."

"Lucario...ah, how should I put this?" Samus asks to herself. "Lucario, even though he doesn't look like it, is a pretty happy-go-lucky guy when you think about it. He can forgive almost any accident, its just in his nature I guess. He...almost prefers to forgive people instead of get mad."

Samus turns quiet again, thinking of something else to say. "I think Lucario understands that it was Peach who made you mad. He isn't the reason for your...outburst, so he doesn't see any reason to hold it against you."

"I do..." Blaze mutters, holding her hand in front of her and creating a small ember in her palm. "These...cursed flames...they keep hurting people. They chase more people away than they attract...and they hurt my friends when I don't want them to."

"Beating yourself up isn't going to do anything but make you feel like crap." Samus firmly states. "I get that it hurts and you want to blame it all on yourself, but did you direct that fireball straight at Lucario? Or know that Peach would deflect it?"

Blaze turns to look at Samus.

"Its an accident. You had a bit of bad luck and a friend got hurt but he'll be fine. Just let it go."

The feline takes a deep breath before smiling up at the older, taller woman. "Thanks Samus."

She only nods.

"Hey...one more thing...do you think Lucario is willing to talk about something bothering him?"

Samus goes back to thinking again. "I recall one time during Brawl when I was in a rut. I couldn't stop thinking about...certain, painful memories. Out of pure luck, I came across Lucario in this very room. He asked what was wrong, I told him I was having a bad day, he asked if I wanted to talk about it, I said no. He asked if I'd at least join him on the couch to enjoy the breeze. I sat down beside him and let the breeze flutter through my hair.

"Lucario never said a word after I sat down, but I didn't feel tense or anxious. Slowly I started to relax, and before I knew it; I was talking to him, telling him everything about why I was feeling down and how hard it was to remember. When I finished speaking, I looked over and saw that he had set his book aside and was respectfully listening to me. On their own, my eyes looked deep into his crimson ones and I saw nothing but understanding looking back. He really was listening to every word I had said, and there was no sign of scorn, humor, or amusement in his gaze.

"As I watched him, he said "I'm sorry for your loss Samus, but remember this. You have become a truly beautiful woman, inwardly as well as physically. Despite your pain, your sorrow, you still work to keep your home safe. I'm sure that your family, wherever they are, are proud of who you have become." Then he leaned over and gently wiped away a tear I didn't even feel come out.

"A couple of days later, I noticed that he looked a little down, so I went over and tried to help him out; you know, returning the favor. He wouldn't tell me a word about what was bugging him, he kept insisting that he "didn't want to burden me" and I "wouldn't understand." Despite his stubborn resistance, I just couldn't get angry with him." Samus pauses, "I actually started to worry a little. To wrap this up without taking an hour, I eventually gave up and left him alone."

"So what happened to him?"

Samus shrugs, "Don't know. The next morning he seemed just like his normal self. I suppose I could've said this without my story, but now you'll probably understand; Lucario won't hesitate to help another person with their problems, but won't give a clue as to whatever bothers him. Its a bit of a mystery to me, how his silence is both helpful and worrying, but it is."

"Oh...I ask because I noticed something among his belongings that seemed to bother him."

Samus nods to show she understood. "Sorry for disappointing you, but Lucario is just that way. He doesn't mind helping others out, but keeps his own problems cooped up inside him."

Silence fills the room for the next minutes before Samus speaks again, "Being a bounty hunter, I don't normally show this, but sometimes I worry about him. We don't know enough about one another to be 'friends' but I still can't help but worry over him when he gets gloomy. I think deep down, everyone worries over Lucario when he's feeling down...I can't explain it perfectly; most of us barely notice him when he's normal, but when he gets depressed...you can almost feel that heaviness around him...that sadness that he's feeling."

"Lucario's just that guy huh?" Blaze asks.

"Right."

Blaze looks down into her lap, quietly trying to understand everything Samus told her. She knew Lucario was a bit reclusive, but did he really hold in his problems? Was it...shyness that made him do that? Fear? Or was he just unwilling to let it out? No, those just didn't seem to fit him.

Then she remembers something he told her about a week ago: "I've been mistreated many times in the past."

Maybe that was the answer...maybe Lucario won't open up because he feels like he can't trust anyone. Because he's been hurt so often in the past, maybe he's grown accustomed to holding things in that should be let out...

_Maybe I should try helping him...connecting to him._ Blaze thinks to herself. _Make him feel...wanted._

"Hey, don't mull over too much of what I've said, okay?" Samus asks, snapping Blaze out of her ponderings. "All I'm telling you is how I think things are, just a theory. It may or may not be the truth, so don't go and believe it to be right."

"Okay, thanks Samus."

"Sure." The blond replies before opening her book back up and going back to reading.

Blaze stands up and begins leaving, but stops when Samus clears her throat. "Just curious, do you happen to know anything of interest about Shadow? Like, what he likes or how to get a conversation started with him?"

"Since when did you become interested in Shadow?" Blaze asks, looking back over her shoulder.

"Its not for me, I saw Aile trying to talk to him the other day. I'm just trying to help out a friend."

Blaze sighs, "I'd love to help you out for helping me, but I don't think I can give you any help with that umber hedgehog. I know of only one girl that managed to open him up, but the rest of us have no clue as to _how_ she did it."

"Oh, thanks anyway."

"Sure, later!" Blaze says, leaving Samus to her novel.

* * *

The hours pass and dinner eventually rolls around. Similar to what Samus said, Blaze notices a lot of the other smashers expressing concern over Lucario's wound (which brought back a bit of her guilt). Even his rival, Snake, seemed to notice the bandages; but refused to comment.

Apart from that, dinner passes in relative peace and a few hours after that the smashers all head to bed. But the events of the day aren't over yet and this one is going to be the most unnerving of them all.

Lucario is somehow in a black-and-white void. His feet are on pitch-black ground which stretches out to the horizon before returning as a gray-white sky with black clouds drifting above. This place might not have been so bad if it weren't dead silent.

Lucario glances around and just as he opens his mouth to speak; monochrome versions of his friends appear in front of him. Sonic, Falco, Colette, Shiek, and Meta all stand in front of him without an ounce of color (apart from gray) to be seen, and all standing with their shoulders slumped and faces hanging low; almost like they are mourning over something.

"Guys?" Lucario asks, trying to get their attention.

No reaction...from his friends at least. Without warning, five large, thick tendrils erupt out of the ground and wrap around his friends; crushing them in a death-squeeze and getting them to yell out in pain.

"No!" Lucario yells, trying to rush forward, but his body wouldn't move. His mind kept urging his legs to move forward, but they wouldn't listen. The same for his arms. Lucario can't do anything but watch as his friends are squeezed in the tentacles' grasp and endure their screams of agony. After a couple seconds, all five of them shatter into a spray of gray lights; completey destroyed. Satisfied with their work, the tentacles quickly retract into the ground.

Finally Lucario can move again, and he collapses to his knees; watching as the lights that were his friends fade away. He blinks and now a gray version of Blaze is standing in front of him.

From his lower vantage point, Lucario can see that Blaze almost seemed to be on the verge of tears. Just like the others, a tentacle comes tearing out at her feet and binds itself around the feline; crushing her and getting her to scream out as well.

This scream...this one seemed more unbearable than the others. So much so that Lucario, almost automatically, pulls his arms back to form a large Aura Sphere, then hurls it into the base of the tentacle; aiming to destroy it before it could destroy Blaze.

His plan almost worked; the attack destroyed the tentacle, but also shattered the ground beneath the feline. Blaze plummets into the dark abyss with a yell before the hole seals itself up.

Lucario looks on in terror...he just killed a friend...this couldn't be happening. How?

"Its your nature..." hisses a sinister voice. The pokemon lifts his head to shadows growing up again; this time beginning to form a silhouette. Before it could complete, a bright flash of pink light erupts out of nowhere.

* * *

Lucario jerks upright in his bed, panting like crazy with his eyes wide in terror.

"Dude! Are you alright?!" Mew asks in a panic, watching his friend slowly calm down. "All of a sudden you just started flailing around like mad!"

"I-I'm alright. Just had a nightmare, that's all." Lucario replies. "Think the others woke up?"

"Well, you were yelling a little and I did make a bit of noise with that Psybeam that woke you up. Then there's also-" Mew stops, interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Great..." Lucario grumbles, walking over to and opening the door.

Blaze is on the other side, a look of concern plastered on her face. She isn't dressed in her normal outfit, not surprising since Lucario noticed that the clock read 12:23 AM, instead wearing a lavender T-shirt and loose pink shorts. The shirt and shorts are small enough to reveal her naval, and her hair-band seems to be missing since each of her hair clumps are limply hanging down around her head. Her gloves, socks, and shoes are all gone and she's illuminated only by "night-dim" hallway lights and a flame in her left palm.

"Are you okay Lucario? I heard yelling and a real loud bang." Blaze asks, her voice (oddly) didn't sound tired in the least.

Just as Lucario was about to answer, Mario comes slumping down the hall; his eyes half-closed and his garb consisting of a red-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. "Mama mia...what's going on?"

"That's what I wanna know." grumbles Falco as he wanders down from the other side of the hall. "I was-sleeping all nice and quiet when...BOOM!"

Likewise, the rest of the doors started opening and their occupants started poking their heads out; awoken either by Lucario's thrashing or the sound of their neighbors shuffling around and coming out to investigate.

Lucario sighs. "Sorry everyone! I just had a bad nightmare that's all!" he calls out. All of the floating heads grumble something before disappearing back into their rooms and a bit of the crowd in front of his room started to file away.

"You alright? Anything you want to talk about?" Blaze asks, not budging from her spot; the only one to do so.

Lucario nods, "I'm fine. Sorry for waking you."

Just then, Peach happens to walk up. "Lucario, sorry about your nightmare." she sweetly says.

"You didn't give it to me, you don't have to apologize." Lucario says, "But thanks anyway."

Peach, covered from head to toe in a soft pink bathrobe, smiles to the pokemon before rounding on Blaze. "And Blaze, I can understand your concern over a friend, but is it really so hard to decently cover yourself up? I can see things a princess shouldn't show."

Blaze groans, that was the last straw. "Lucario, sorry about this." Blaze says before pushing him inside his room, following right behind and slamming the door shut. "I need to talk." she says, once they reach the bed.

"Peach?"

Blaze nods before turning to Mew. "Can you go outside and make sure she isn't eavesdropping?"

"Sure, I'll leave you two all alone..." Mew says before floating away and teleporting out into the hall.

"Look, I am fed up with her butting that pretty little nose into my life. And as much as I wouldn't breaking it..." the feline takes a deep breath, "I need to keep my temper in check. Is there anyway that I can get her off my case for good without giving in?"

"Peach won't stop until you truly let her know that you're not going to cooperate at all." Lucario says, "If you want, you can join me on the night of the dance."

"If I go, Peach is definitely not going to leave me alone."

"Who said I was going?" Lucario asks.

Blaze looks at him for a second, then grins. "Where were you going to be?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow, right now I'd like to just go back to sleep. That also gives us time to figure out how you'll get away from Peach to actually accomplish this." Lucario says.

Blaze grins before patting him on the shoulder. "Thanks. Good night."

"G'night." Lucario says, watching her walk out and Mew come back in.

"So?"

"I'm sneaking Blaze out of the dance." Lucario plainly says.

"Ah, now anyway...to continue with what I was saying. That must've been a bad nightmare..."

"Why do you say that? Apart from my thrashing?"

Mew gestures upward. Lucario looks and sees a large scorch mark above his bed on the ceiling.

"You chucked an Aura Sphere in your sleep."

* * *

"Do I want to know why you suddenly shoved Lucario into his room with you?" Peach sternly asks, glaring down at the mobian princess; her arms crossed and a look of scorn on her face.

"If you must, we were making out." Blaze spits, forcing her way by the taller princess.

"You did what?!" Peach asks, barely keeping her voice low enough to avoid disturbing the others.

"Wow, that did what I thought it would." Blaze smartly comments. "I was just making sure he really was alright after that nightmare, something a _real_ friend would do."

"Hmm...alright, and I'll let you get off tonight because its late, but tomorrow we'll have a talk about your presentation."

Blaze snorts under her breath before asking, "Peach?"

The mushroom princess turns around to see Blaze giving her a special gesture with a hand before disappearing into her own room.

Peach scowls before silently storming off to her room.


	23. Our Own Dance

Chapter 23 Our Own Dance

Finally everyone has gotten a break from psychotic Peach, Blaze finally gave in and decided to go to the dance providing she doesn't have to go dress shopping. Once she heard that, all of the tension melted away and Peach went back to being her normal happy self.

Of course, that's not to say that things are peaceful at the mansion. The whole Smash System seems to be getting more and more glitchy; it started with Colette's pokeball, then a Smash Ball that awarded no Final Smash, and then a Smoke Ball that exploded like a Smart Bomb. Because of all the bizarre happenings, Master Hand shut down the Smash System to run a system diagnostics, which has left the smashers to find their own recreational means in the two days before today; the day of the first ever, Smash Gala.

* * *

All of the girls have gathered together in the sky-lounge to apply the finishing touches to their outfits before the dance. Most are already finished, but have decided to go down with the rest of the women instead of separately.

Blaze rolls her eyes at Peach's enthusiasm. She seems so excited over her _new_ dress that looks exactly like her normal one except for it stopping just above the ankle instead of reaching the ground. Zelda is humoring the Mushroom Princess by playing along, but then again she's only let her braids flow freely; which actually created a rather lovely brown frame to her face.

"Why I decided to agree to this, I have no clue." Samus grunts from the couch, wearing a light red T-shirt and dark red pants. She flat out refused to wear anything that was a dress or gave the men a look at her chest.

"Oh settle down Sammy." Rouge replies, her voice coming from just ahead of Blaze. The feline princess glances over to see that, as expected, Rouge seems to have given little thought to modesty. A pale white tank-top covers her chest while her legs are hidden under a black gown with a slit that almost goes all the way from the foot to the hip. "You don't know that you won't enjoy it until you try."

Samus snorts and starts to lift a hand, then decides against it and looks away.

Blaze glances around at everyone else; Colette and Kumatora are wearing the same thing they usually do, Shiek (again, looking exactly the same as any other day) is lurking in a corner, Midna is wearing a rather elegant one-shoulder electric-blue dress that goes surprisingly well with her cloak, Aile and Ashe are wearing identical dresses that go down to the thighs and a pair of shorts underneath with Aile wearing an orange version while Ashe is garbed in purple, Krystal is wearing a light-blue vest over a white shirt and shorts, and finally May is wearing a pale-cream colored dress that stops at the knee and no bandana in her hair.

Blaze just shrugs off any changes she notices in her companions. The only difference in her attire is the large golden necklace replaced with a more simplistic amber-colored chain; which is currently getting rolled between her fingers.

The feline gives another glance over towards May and notices the trainer rolling a pokeball around on the table out of anticipation.

"Knock it off, you'll make that pokemon sick." Blaze comments.

"Its empty, and I can't help it...this is my first dance..." May replies.

"Ah cheer up, its not that bad."

"But...I don't know how to dance..."

"I bet seventy-percent of the guys don't know how to dance, they'll probably make bigger accidents than you could."

"Still..." May answers, glancing out the window at the last shred of red from the setting sun resting over the horizon.

"I know what it is...you're nervous about going there with Red."

"What?!" May exclaims, her head snapping back to the cat and cheeks turning pink, "N-No I'm not!"

"You're blushing."

Luckily for May, Peach saves her. "Come on ladies, lets go have a great time!" the princess exclaims.

The rest of the women all get up and start heading out, Blaze included. Suddenly, she gasps and drops to the floor. "What's wrong?" everyone asks, turning towards the feline.

"My chain broke..." Blaze mutters, holding up four or five pieces of the chain she was playing with. "I'll have to go get another...don't wait for me." Clutching the pieces in hand, Blaze quickly rushes out, goes around the corner, then quickly ducks up the stairway to the roof before anyone else could see her.

The feline hides in the shadows until the murmuring and footsteps fade from hearing, then (still cautious) quietly opens the rooftop door and slips through, shutting it just as quietly behind her.

The princess looks around and finds that its a typical rooftop. Nice wide open space with a couple air ducts coming up before going back down, and an antennae array over in one of the corners. The floor is concrete and the sloping sides are covered in burnt-red shingles.

Blaze smiles when she finds what she is looking for, a long blue tail swaying around from behind one of the ducts. "So you snuck away without a hitch?" Blaze asks.

"Of course I did...you know how silent I am." Lucario says while coming out from behind the duct. "And you?"

Blaze holds out the broken chain. "A trick chain one of my friends gave me, it easily breaks apart into pieces and is the perfect excuse to get away from a crowd to escape." Blaze explains, snapping the pieces back together with a simple twist of her fingers. She slips the chain into her pocket while extracting her normal necklace from the other and clasping it into its proper place.

"Clever." Lucario comments.

"Thanks, looks like I'm a little too early though." Blaze looks up at the sky. "The stars haven't come out yet."

This is their plan all along. Blaze pretends to want to go to the dance, then slips away with an excuse to join Lucario up on the roof to go star-gazing while Peach thinks that she's only gone to try and find a replacement necklace. Simple, but effective nonetheless. They would've gone to the observatory, but that is better suited for looking down on planets, not up at stars.

"We can watch the sun finish setting, if you want." Lucario suggests.

"Sure." Blaze replies, heading for the west side of the roof. She sits down at the top of the shingled slope and stretches her legs out in front of her, and is soon joined by her pokemon friend who also lets his legs lay out.

The two watch the sun paint the sky in shades of red, orange, yellow, and purple in silence. Then, out of nowhere, Lucario asks, "What's bothering you?"

"What?" Blaze asks, not ready to answer a question after so much silence.

"Something's bothering you, what is it?"

"What are you talking about? Nothing's bothering me."

Lucario glances at her before holding out a hand. "Take my hand."

Trusting him, Blaze gently rests one of hers onto Lucario's. Slowly and gently, his aura receptors begin to sway back and forth as a field of blue rolls away from them and across the pokemon's body. The midnight-blue mist is soon covering his entire person, and creeps from his arm onto Blaze's, turning a sickly green color in the process.

"When you're happy and content, your aura field is the midnight-blue color mine is." Lucario explains, "When it turns sick-green, it means you're upset about something."

Blaze stays quiet, withdrawing her hand and litting the green glow vanish.

"Aura fields can't lie."

"Alright, alright..." Blaze replies before sighing. "I'm just...frustrated..."

"What about?"

Blaze shakes her head. "You wouldn't get it."

"Try me."

Blaze sighs again and turns silent for a few seconds before answering. "To be honest, I hate being a princess. Sure, it has its nice perks, but I don't like all the requirements and expectations that get put on me. I mean, take this dance for example. I wasn't interested in it in the least, but just because I have the title of princess," she hisses out that word while making air quotes, "Peach immediately thought I would be. Even when I'm home on Mobius, I rarely get time to myself, its always "learn your manners Princess," "its time for your studies Princess," "hurry up Princess, there is a gala that you need to be ready for," and a thousand more like that. Sometimes I get so swept in all of my work, I don't feel like a person anymore..."

Lucario disapprovingly shakes his head, "That isn't right in the least."

"No, it isn't but that's what my head advisor, Miguel does day in and day out. I'd fire him, but I can't until I turn eighteen and that won't happen for two more years." Blaze pauses, "But it isn't just him, everyone else from the upper class treats me the same way. To be honest, sometimes I wish I could just throw it all away...wish I could be a normal girl that you'd see walking down a street."

"You really want to give up everything? Even your fire?" Lucario asks, a little amazed by Blaze's yearnings.

"Especially my fire. If it wasn't for that stupid curse, I might be a little bit happier." Blaze looks down into her lap, "When I was a little girl, I couldn't fully control my flames...I wasn't a walking inferno or anything, but I always had a half-dozen harmless embers flitting around me. I wanted to go and play with other children my age, but Miguel wouldn't stand for it. He kept saying it wouldn't do for a family like mine to have a freak in it, so he kept me sheltered away until I could completely control them and the embers went away."

Just as Lucario is about to say something Blaze finishes with, "If it weren't for these stupid flames I might have had a chance for a normal childhood! But no...instead I had to take control-lessons on top of every other damn lesson that stupid koala planned for me as well! They aren't even good for anything except battles!"

Once her verbal outburst ends, Blaze's head droops back down as a couple tears slide out.

"Blaze, maybe I should first say this...your powers don't make you a freak, they make you unique. Whoever this Miguel is, he's nothing but a coward; terrified of your gift so much that he wants to pretend it doesn't exist."

"My flames aren't a gift Lucario, I told you they're just a curse."

"If you believe that, then fine, but let me finish. If people are stereotyping you as just another princess that is all about flowers and rainbows; ignore them. Anyone who does that isn't worth your attention in the first place. As for Miguel and his ridiculous ideals, just put your foot down and say no. Nobody can force you into doing anything, alright?"

Blaze hesitates a little. "Alright."

"Good, now, apart from what you've told me already; why do you think your flames are a curse?" Lucario asks, quickly adding, "And don't say because you heard it so many times from Miguel."

"Well...promise me you'll keep it a secret first, okay?"

"I promise. Its never someone else's place to spread the secrets of another."

"Okay..." Blaze weakly mutters. She unclasps her necklace and sets it aside before grabbing the zipper to her jacket and opening the top inch, inch-and-a-half of it. After gently pulling apart the loose flaps of fabric, Lucario can see the upper most part of the cat's chest.

There was a tiny bit of cleavage, but the most dominating element is a large stripe of dark purple fur; standing out against the normal lavender shade of her coat. This stripe didn't make any sense, it was incredibly jagged and uneven and had smaller flecks all around it...it just didn't look like a birthmark or anything natural.

"Its a scar." Blaze explains, "One day I was practicing to keep my fire under control. I was doing fine, until I just...broke down. I just couldn't hold back the tears, but before I knew it...the flames I was working with slammed right into my chest and burned clear through my jacket and burned my skin. I've healed since then, but not all of the damage healed so when my fur grew back it was this darker shade.

"I hurt so much that day...but only a little came from the burn. That was the day when I finally cracked under all of the pressure...when I just couldn't hold in the frustration, the emotions...the pain anymore; and my flames lashed out and hurt me because of it. Tell me...if that isn't evidence of a curse, than what is?!"

"Blaze...forgive me, I shouldn't have pried this far. You may consider your flames a curse, but I don't. Do you see this wisp of aura?" Lucario asks, gesturing to a wisp of aura dancing around in his palm.

Blaze nods.

"It isn't any different from your flames. They change in response to how we feel. They react to our emotions. If you want to keep believing that your flames are a curse, then go ahead, but I believe that they and this..." he stops and gently traces her scar with his free hand, "are some of the features that set you apart from the rest. They make you one of the most unique and amazing women out there, try treating them that way."

Blaze looks up into Lucario's red eyes as his hands retract. Those rubies looking back are so...comforting. Samus was right, when you've got something on your mind, you just pour it out when you're around Lucario...Blaze didn't even realize she said half the stuff she did until she looked into those eyes. And (again, like the bounty hunter said) Lucario didn't show anything but understanding; no smirk on his mouth, no restrained chuckles, just those comforting eyes looking back.

"Thanks Lucario." Blaze says, quickly sliding forward and catching him in a hug; burying her face into the surprisingly soft yellow fur on his shoulder. "You're real kind...ten thousand times better than all those other rich snobs I have to deal with." she adds, her voice a little muffled from having to come out of his soft chest fur.

The cat stretches out a little to rest her chin on his shoulder. "You seem to know just what to say to cheer someone up."

"Feeling better I guess?" Lucario feels her nod before she lets go and pulls away. The pokemon smiles at her before suddenly turning red and diverting his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Blaze asks, not understanding the sudden change in his behavior.

"Check your jacket."

Blaze looks down and quickly gasps herself before pulling her jacket closed; it had unzipped itself to show just a little too much of her red bra. Apparently the tip of Lucario's chest spike got wedged in there during the first phase of the hug, then unzipped it as she stretched upward to reach his shoulder.

"S-sor-ry." Blaze stutters, her white muzzle turning crimson red as she zips her jacket closed.

"I should apologize, it was my spike that did it..."Lucario replies, his voice just the slightest bit shaky.

"So...umm..." Blaze starts, clasping her necklace back on. "That-uh."

"What happens up here, stays up here." Lucario answers before glancing upward. "We've bonded so much that the stars snuck up on us." he comments.

"Heh, look at that, they did didn't they?" Blaze remarks after looking upwards as well. A tiny sliver of the crescent moon is visible along with one or two dozen twinkling stars, all set against the lovely ebony sky.

"Come on, I know how to get a better view." Lucario says while standing up, then offers a hand to the princess.

Blaze smiles a little at him while accepting the help up, then lets the pokemon guide her over to the...

"Air ducts?" Blaze curiously asks.

"I discovered their use during the Brawl tournament. Providing you find a strong enough one, they actually aren't that bad for lying down on, especially if the one you pick is channeling hot air."

"If you say so." Blaze responds, watching the pokemon climb up on one of the ducts. Like he said, the large duct was strong enough to support his weight...it barely popped as he climbed on.

"There's a duct right here if you want it." Lucario says, gesturing to one about a foot away from him. "You may want to leave the heels on the ground though, they might make it hard to climb up."

The feline takes the pokemon's suggestion and slips out of her heels before climbing up on the duct. Once she's confident the duct won't buckle under her, she lies down and trains her golden eyes on the black sky above her silently admiring all of those tiny lights that only became more and more numerous as time passes.

"I wonder which star has Mobius or Pokenoa around it." Blaze whimsically comments, after a minute or so and the stars have spread themselves from horizon to horizon.

"Mobius is on the far side of the galaxy and Pokenoa's star is too far away to be seen without a telescope, but..." Lucario goes silent, peering up at the stars. "I think that one is Snake's home."

"Which one?"

"See those five bright stars that are in an 'M' shape?"

The cat follows Lucario hand and sure enough an 'M' is sitting right there. "Yea."

"The star on the left peak should be Soli, the name of the star that Earth orbits. So that should mean that the right peack is Sunagem, the star that gives light to Aile and Ashe's home."

"Wow..." Blaze mutters, "Everytime I think about it, I can't help but be amazed at how many kinds of life are out there." Blaze turns quiet for a few seconds before starting to laugh, "I'm actually hanging out with an 'alien' right now!"

Lucario thinks over her comment for a second, then starts chuckling as well, "And the both of us are with dozens more aliens all on yet another alien world."

The two laugh a little harder before quieting down to watch the night's natural lights and listen to the current song drifting up from the ballroom's windows; a song that Lucario identified as "Fireflies."

After a couple minutes, Lucario asks, "Hey Blaze?" to get his companion's attention.

"Yea?"

"If you watched the Brawl battles on TV, and heard the stories that I'm sure Sonic told his friends about when he got back...didn't it cross your mind that most of the contestents were aliens?"

"Well...yea, kinda. I guessed that everyone besides Sonic was an alien, but it still blows my mind that everyone lives together in the same galaxy, separated only by those vast distances of light-years. And its more than just the varieties, but also all of the places that the rest of the smashers call home. Some planets can be confused for Mobius, others couldn't be any more different...yet life still thrives there all the same..." Blaze trails off. "Its just...amazing."

The two friends quiet down again, returning to being idle observers of the night lights.

* * *

"Brr..." Blaze mutters, suddenly beginning to shiver violently. "Is it me or did it get cold all of a sudden?"

"Never thought I'd hear a pyrokinetic say that." Lucario comments, "I'm fine."

"Seriously? It feels like someone's got ice to my back..." She complains while sitting up.

"The duct you're lying on probably got turned on, blowing cold air to whichever room it leads to."

"Great...I'd use some fire to warm up, but then I'll effect the duct..."

"We can share mine if you want...its big enough for two."

"Thanks!" Blaze happily replies, hopping down from her duct before hurrying over and climbing up with the pokemon.

Lucario's plan is both a success and a failure...the duct _is_ big enough for the two of them, but only just. The feline is now tucked up on Lucario's right, her side touching his and the back of her head resting on his arm just to the side of his shoulder pad.

"W-well...this isn't all that bad..." Lucario comments, blushing slightly from the feeling of her soft cheek fur against his shoulder.

"Y-yea..." Blaze adds, also embarrassed at their closeness and the feeling of his sleek fur on the back of her head. "You ever guess you'd be lying this closely to a girl before?"

"I wander on my own, remember?"

"Doesn't mean you couldn't have dreamt about it, right?"

Lucario turns quiet for a second, "Umm...maybe once or twice I've though about being able to hold someone else's hand...to feel her fingers intertwined with mine..." he blushes a little more, but it goes unnoticed in the dark lighting, "But I usually keep those for my dreams...I doubt most girls would enjoy following a wanderer..."

Blaze's ears flicker a little, that last word sounded so...hollow. Not hollow like it was a lie, but hollow in literal sound; like it hurt to say that word and remember what it means.

The feline quiets down to watch the stars, trying to make sense of Lucario's habits. It just didn't seem to follow any reasoning...if it seemed to hurt so badly to be alone, why does he tolerate it? How can he endure that pain for so long and not turn bitter at everything around him?

"How can you do it Lucario?"

"Do what?" Lucario asks.

"How can you handle being alone for so long? Endure not being able to talk to anyone else for days if not months on end?"

"You get used to it." Lucario replies, that same pained, hollow tone echoing in his words.

"But why?" Blaze asks, gently taking Lucario's hand in hers and softly squeezing it. "There has to be somebody on Pokenoa that is willing to hang out with you. Don't you _like_ being with friends?"

"Of course I enjoy being with my friends." Lucario answers, indifferent to Blaze grasp. "It isn't like I don't, but I manage to get by without them. And its not like I enjoy being alone...it...I just can't find anyone willing to wander along with me."

"What about those pokemon I saw in your journal?"

"They all have homes, they have no reason to forge a wayward trail across the world."

"Then-"

"Look, can we just change the subject?!" Lucario suddenly yells, "This...talking about my life...it hurts to think about it and, honestly, it makes me feel sick."

Blaze lowers her ears and quickly glances away, disheartened over stepping on a nerve. "Sorry...for whatever its worth, I think you're a pretty good friend...and I'd be willing to make your days on Pokena less lonely..."

Lucario doesn't answer immediately, instead he sighs and gently returns the pressure on Blaze's hand. "I doubt you'll enjoy entering that part of my life, but thanks. It really means a lot."

"Sure." Blaze replies before she and Lucario return to stargazing. The two lie together in the semi-chilly night air, lost in time as they listen to faint whispers of the songs playing in the ballroom.

* * *

The aura pokemon's ears flicker a little as an odd new song wafts up from the lower floor. "Hmm, the Moonlight Sonata...that's quite the soothing piece." he comments.

Blaze listens to the piece for a few more seconds before a sudden idea strikes her. Almost immediately she shrugs it off while giggling to herself. "Like that will ever happen." she mutters.

"What?"

"Its nothing."

"Tell me." Lucario insists.

"Fine, I'm giggling at the thought of...you and I dancing to this."

"Sure."

Now its Blaze's turn to be confused. "What?"

"I don't mind having a private dance up here. The music is loud enough, but you'll have to teach me how to dance."

Blaze sits up and looks at Lucario, expecting him to smirk and start laughing at a joke that wouls come out any second. When she only sees a serious expression staring back, Blaze asks, "Seriously?"

"I said yes."

"Oh-okay. Well, first we'll need to get down off this air-duct." Blaze says, hopping down and slipping her heels back on. Once she and Lucario move to the most open area of the roof (which isn't really that big of a spot, in addition to the ducts that sit around the rooftop, there are plenty of smaller pipes around as well) the feline takes the pokemon's hands in hers and looks up at him. "First you'll have to hold me right."

"I though the first-step was getting off the ducts." Lucario smartly comments, snickering as he dodges Blaze's swat. He doesn't keep snickering for long, quickly quieting down and blushing as Blaze sets his left hand on her hip.

"Keep that hand where it is." she instructs, extending her left arm (and as a result, his right) off to the side while setting her right hand on his shoulder. "This is the basic pose for all the ballroom dances. Now this music sounds good for a waltz, so just follow my lead."

Blaze starts off the basics of the waltz nice and slowly, allowing Lucario to watch, memorize, and follow at the same time. After a minute, the princess asks, "Think you've got it?"

"I think so." Lucario answers, his muzzle still tinted red from holding Blaze's hip.

"Good, because now you have to lead me."

"I...what?"

"When ballroom dancing, it is customary for the man to lead the woman." Blaze instructs, "Whenever you're ready."

Lucario takes a deep breath before starting, Blaze matching every move he makes. His mind has to constantly remind him of the steps for the first couple of minutes, but slowly the pokemon falls into a rhythm and can relax a little.

Before they can really enjoy it, the Sonata ends and a song resembling the earlier ones drifts up to them. This new song is nowhere suitable for a waltz, but curiously; Blaze doesn't let go. Instead she takes the lead and starts leading Lucario off on a new set of steps.

"Blaze?"

"I know the song is over, but I don't want to stop yet." Blaze replies, "Even though this one isn't good for any of the ballroom dances I know of, can we still dance together? Maybe just off the rhythm?"

Lucario wants to say "No, I'd rather stop," but after looking into those gold eyes, his voice rebels and says "Sure."

Blaze smiles up at him before letting him re-take the lead. As they elegantly slide back-and-forth around their dance floor, their hold on one another shifts as well; Blaze's moving from shoulder to his lower back and from hand to right shoulder while Lucario's go from hip to upper back and down to her shoulder.

The two drift around for this song, as well as the next two, lost in the music and their fun. This is such a unique experience; the stars above are their spotlights, the gentle night breeze is their company, and the music is loud enough to be heard but soft enough to maintain a sense of solitude.

About halfway through their third "free-dancing" song, Blaze shifts around again; sliding into the crook of Lucario's elbow and resting her cheek to his open shoulder. Before the pokemon could say anything, Blaze says, "Thanks Lucario."

"For what?"

"For dancing with me as a friend. After being forced into dancing at so many galas, I started to hate it...but you've made it fun again."

Lucario smiles, "You're welcome. And, no, I don't mind you getting this close."

Blaze blushes a little at her oversight and starts suppressing a handful of giggles.

Lucario only watches his companion, silently admiring the effects the night has on her. Blaze's lavender fur looks even more pale in the moonlight, but it only makes the princess look even more beautiful; the same applying ten-fold to the soft gold in her eyes. The ruby on her forehead seems to think its a mirror and is reflecting the sky and the stars with a faint red tint, which also goes for her hairband, and the gold necklace sparkles ever so slightly in the dim light of the moon; giving it an otherworldy quality.

But the most pleasing thing about Blaze to the pokemon is her expression. Her eyes are slightly closed, her lips are curled into a happy smile, and Lucario can hear her faintly humming along with the music. She just seems so...peaceful right now. Could she really be happy just...dancing? The gold necklace quickly shines with the moon's light and draws Lucario's gaze, and he quickly remembers the scar hiding beneath it. That's when the truth dawns on him; it wasn't the dance that was making her happy, it was the meaning behind it.

Home she was treated like the stereotypical princess, here Lucario's actually treating her as a person...a wanted friend. That's what getting her to smile, the feeling of being wanted for who she is.

"Hey Lucario?" Blaze asks, snapping him out of his thoughts. "A-about before. I just...I want you to know that...if you need to talk about something, I'm here. Okay?"

"Okay." Lucario replies.

Blaze's smile grows just a tiny bit bigger, but quickly opens into a gasp as Lucario's foot catches on one of the small pipes and trips him. Before she could let go, she gets pulled down as well.

The pokemon lands on his back, and since they fell at an angle, Blaze is heading right for his chest spike. Luckily, Blaze managed to pull her hands free as he was falling and quickly extends them out to cushion her fall.

Palms meet rooftop with a resounding smack and elbows bend to absorb the shock, stopping Blaze before she gets stabbed...but only with millimeters between his spik and her breasts. The feline stares at the close call before sighing in relief and lifting her gaze. She freezes once her eyes lock with Lucario's, not even noticing the feeling of his breathing on her nose.

As much as she wanted to look away, Blaze just couldn't turn from those crimson-red pupils. They are such an enigma...somehow they looked concerned for her safety and amused at the ordeal. Worried that she might have been hurt, yet still completely relaxed. Just adding another layer to the mystery are the reflections of the stars on his eyes. How could something so small be so captivating?

_Not like his kind demeanor isn't charming enough, or the way he's been watching out for me...wait a second...why am I thinking about..._ Blaze's train of thought rapidly derails as she sees something new reflect off Lucario's eyes...a shooting star.

With a quick yelp, Blaze leaps away from the pokemon and lands about a foot away; her entire muzzle glowing red.

"What?" Lucario asks while sitting up, worried she got poked after all.

"I-its n-nothing." Blaze stammers, "A-abso-lutely nothing a-at all!"

Lucario only lifts an eyebrow and gives her an unconvinced look. "Would it happen to have something to do with that shooting star?"

Blaze turns so red, her ruby pales in comparison. "N-NO! Wh-why in the world would you...you think that?!"

"Well, your reactions for one thing." Lucario sarcastically comments, "Just tell me, I won't laugh."

Blaze takes a deep breath (or a dozen) to calm herself before answering. "On Mobius, there's a tale about shooting stars...or belief, or whatever you want to call it. If any man and woman are close together when one goes by," Blaze pauses to take another deep breath, "They are said to be...meant for each other."

Lucario smiles before getting up and walking over to the princess. "I didn't think you'd be the kind to believe in superstitions."

"Can we please change the subject?!" Blaze nervously asks, anxious to get off this incredibly embarrassing and awkward topic.

Just as Lucario is about to reply, they both hear a new voice shreik "I KNEW IT!!" and turn to see Peach over at the stairs; her face red with anger.

All discussion about the shooting star is forgotten in an instant. "Shit!" Blaze yells, shocking Peach with her vocabulary.

"Run for it!" Lucario adds as they spin and run for the west edge of the roof. They reach the slope, slide down it, and leap off...forgetting that they are about thirty-five feet or so in the air.

Before either one coule start falling, Lucario's arm shoots out to snag Blaze around the waist and pulls her close to his side before he performs a mid-air Extremespeed to make it to a nearby thicket of trees. Then nimble pokemon touches down on the top of one tree, then immediately leaps off and lands on the next before jumping away again; hopscotching the two of them across the grove and away from Peach's wrath.

Peach can only watch as they get away, fuming with rage. _How dare she...I shudder to think of what she might've been doing with him up here all night..._ Peach growls in her head before stomping back downstairs.

After about five minutes of leaping, Lucario lands atop a mid-sized bluff about four miles away from the mansion. This is a truly beautiful place to stargaze, no trees grow within ten feet of the bluff's edge and the bluff itself is high enough to provide a clear view over the forest below. Way out here, away from the lights of Smashville and the mansion, the stars have grown exponentially and the two can even see a mighty rift of purple and black arcing over the sky; the Milky Way as earthlings call it.

Lucario sets Blaze down, his hands ready in case the princess was unsteady.

"I'm alright." she insists, "This place looks like a much better place to watch the stars."

"Yea, no lights to get in the way." Lucario remarks, watching as Blaze sits down and reclines backward, using her arms to keep herself up and sweeping both legs off to one side. Lucario sits down beside her in a fashion similar to Blaze's pose except with his legs crossed in front of him.

After a minute of silence, Blaze asks, "Did you really mean what you said back on the roof? About my fire and your aura being the same?"

"Every word."

"But...how are they the same?" Blaze asks, sitting upright and lifting a hand to conjure a small ember at the tip of her left index finger. "They look alike, but...they don't act like each other."

"Are they?" Lucario asks, sitting up as well. In an instant another wisp of his aura is dancing at the end of his right wrist spike. "Look closely."

"I still don't see it." Blaze admits. "Besides...when you think about them, they aren't alike at all. Aura is your own life-energy, Fire is nothing more than a collection of heat energy."

Lucario gives her a small smile. "Then watch this."

Lucario moves his wrist and ember towards Blaze's fire. Once the two wisps get close enough, they quickly leap together into a larger wisp of pure purple.

The pokemon's smile only gets bigger as Blaze gasps. "Told you. Your fire is nothing more than a slightly different manifestation of aura. Instead of controlling pure aura, like I do, you control the energy and warmth that aura gives off in the form of flames."

Blaze gives him a blank look.

"All aura fields naturally create warmth and heat energy. Instead of controlling the aura itself, you control that warmth and heat."

"But...I've managed to work with other flames before. Ones in an actual fire."

"I said you control warmth and heat; actual literal fire. The reason you can _create_ fire at will is because _your_ aura-field is creating the material needed to sustain a fire. As you manipulate a fire you've created, your own aura-field...yourself, becomes a part of it." Lucario pauses, "Now do you understand why I said your flames were a gift?"

Blaze draws her finger away, splitting the giant ember back into the smaller blue and red ones. "So...all this time what I thought was a weapon...was a curse...was just my own aura? It was just...me?"

Lucario nods, "Your flames are a part of you Blaze. They rise from your own aura-field and react along with it...they are as much a part of you as your fur or eyes and are one of if not _the_ most beautiful part."

Blaze blushes at his words.

"To best see it, form a fireball."

Trusting her friend, Blaze lets the ember grow into a basketball-sized orb of fire in her hand. Lucario lets the wisp slide from his psike to his palm while growing into an Aura Sphere of similar size.

"On the count of three, hurt it into the sky towards that bright trio of stars." Lucario instructs, pointing at the stars he mentioned with his free hand.

Once Blaze nods, Lucario starts counting. When he hits three, both friends throw the orbs out into the sky, watching as they hurtle towards the stars. Eventually they collide and emit a quick flash of white light before exploding into a gigantic aurora covering a fourth of the sky; a waving curtain of deep-blue, flame-red, and royal-purple.

Blaze gasps as she sees the gorgeous sight. _She _did that...her _fire_ helped make that...what she thought could only be used as a weapon was now generating this awe-inspiring light show in the night sky. The three colors dance and ripple around one another, constantly changing shape, size, and position. The twinkling stars behind it only made the aurora look even more beautiful...it all brought a tear to her eye.

"Told you it was beautiful." Lucario says.

"Yea...how'd you know this would happen?" Blaze asks. "Or even that my flames rise from my aura?"

"I've seen your flames through aura-sight. They glow in the same color as your aura. That's how I figured it all out. As for the aurora...aura and fire are both concentrations of energy, so its only natural that they'd want to merge and mix with one another." Lucario explains.

Blaze sighs as her tears stand at the edge of her eyes. "Why though? Why convince me otherwise?"

"Why would I not want to help a friend see the beauty in herself?"

Blaze only smiles while sliding closer to Lucario. She quickly stretchs up, pecks him on the cheek, then sits back down and rests her head on his shoulder. _Thanks Lucario..._ she thinks, gently batting at his tail with her own.

Lucario does nothing but blush as he feels her tail wrap itself around his and watch the aurora..._their_ aurora dance in the sky for a few more minutes before fading away; living the stars behind.

Eventually, Blaze yawns before asking, "What time is it?"

"Probably close to midnight. I heard the Smashville clock ring out eleven before we got chased off the roof and it seems like we spent at least an hour out here." Lucario explains. "Tired?"

"A little...here..." she groggily mutters, handing something to the pokemon.

"Your room key?" Lucario asks, accepting the item.

"I'm going to drop any second now. Would it be too much to ask for you to carry me back?" Blaze asks, "It'll be a fitting end to such a nice night."

"Surprised you want to go back," Lucario comments, "Peach is probably still mad at us, remember?"

"Oh forget Peach, I'm too tired to care about that bossy pain in the ass right now. We'll deal with her in the morning." Blaze mumbles.

Lucario chuckles at Blaze's fiestyness, even when sleepy. "Alright, good night Blaze."

He hears her reply with, "Good night, Lu...car...oh." before he hears soft snoring and feels her tail go limp.

Lucario only smiles before gently lifting her into his arms, tucking her close to his chest (being mindful of the spike) and taking off towards the mansion. By the time he returned, all was quiet. The party's music is gone, the lights are out, and everyone is probably in bed and away in dreams by now.

_Makes things easier on me,_ Lucario thinks, opening the front doors with his tail and shutting them the same way.

"The pokemon quietly carries the mobian up the stairs and down the hallway to the suites. Using his talented tail again, Lucario unlocks her door and carries the princess into her room, gently setting her down on the bed.

In a rare moment of compassion, Lucario looks down at the sleeping girl and gently runs a paw down the side of her face; smiling at how peaceful she is.

_You really are beautiful...sleep well Blaze._ Lucario quietly thinks to himself while turning around.

Unfortuneately as he does so, Lucario's tail sweeps across Blaze's end-table and knocks off a few things. With a silent gasp Lucario quickly contorts around to grab her clock and a small candle, but a large book eludes his grasp and topples onto the floor; landing open with a resounding thud.

Lucario winces at the noise, but Blaze is already in such a deep sleep that she doesn't even flick an ear. After returning the clock and candle to their spots, he turns for the book but freezes when he sees what is looking back...himself.

This book is actually Blaze's sketchbook and it fell open to a sketch of him. The drawn Lucario is just a head-shot, looking back out of the page with a slight smile present.

Even though he knew that this was a private object and would probably make Blaze blush redder than Knuckles, Lucario can't help but pick the book up and turn the pages; finding a few more sketches of him interspersed with others. There was one of him laughing with Falco and Sonic, another of him standing on a hill and looking at the full moon, and (this one is a surprise) him standing protectively in front of Blaze.

That seems to be it...any pages beyond that one are blank. Strangely, Lucario doesn't get creeped out over Blazze drawing him, he doesn't smile at the "fan" he has, he doesn't even chuckle at how like-like the sketches are. Instead he almost looks...sad.

The pokemon shakes his head before quietly closing the book and putting it back on the night-stand. Before he leaves, Lucario glances back at Blaze with eyes full of sadness and whispers, "If you only knew..."

Then he leaves for his own room.

**

* * *

**

Well? How were they? Like I said, something just kinda seems...off. Anyway, a quick "special" disclaimer here; "Fireflies" is a song that is property of Owl City and the "Moonlight Sonata" is a work from Beethoven, but since he's dead I'm not sure who to give credit to...point is, I don't own the copyrights to either of 'em. What...or rather, _who_ I own is that Miguel fellow, but to be honest, he's just someone I made up...and of course this story.

**Well, if you're confused about anything just let me know and I'll try to straighten it out. 'Till the next update!**


	24. The Evil Shadow

**My apologies for taking so long to update. Honestly, it was a combination of my procrastination and not being able to get this chapter right that delayed it for so long. Even now it seems off. Oh well, I can't seem to get it any better than this. **

**Oh, and since I haven't said this in a while: I do not own Super Smash Bros. or any of the characters appearing within this story. They all belong to the various companies and creators which are too numerous to list. All I do own is the mansion...now if only it was real...**

* * *

Chapter 24 The Evil Shadow

The day after the dance has come and gone, just like any other day...apart from Lucario and Blaze getting barraged by question after question. Seems like Peach opened her mouth to the whole group of dance attendees about Blaze and Lucario sneaking out onto the roof, and now _everyone_ is curious about what exactly they were doing up there.

The others, for the most part, seemed content with the "just stargazing" story, the only two real sticklers were Falco and Peach; the former stubbornly believing that Lucario had some kind of romantic plans for the two and the latter believing _Blaze_ was the one with the plans.

However, that was all yesterday; today's a new day and it has brought a strange new puzzle to the smashers' attention.

* * *

Lucario arose early, just like always, rubbed a little sleep out of his eyes and struggled out of bed. After stretching, he glances over his shoulder to see Mew still napping contently.

The larger pokemon smiles a little before quietly leaving, heading upstairs to the roof. Upon reaching his destination, Lucario hops atop one of the ducts and reclines backward to gaze up at the clouds.

Against his will, his thoughts drift over to Falco and his antics from yesterday. _Blast it Falco..._ Lucario thinks to himself, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight. _Why can't you just leave it alone...nothing is happening between Blaze and I._ The pokemon sighs, _...Not like anything can happen in the first place...ah, stop thinking about it! You know that upsets yourself!_ He scolds.

"Besides, I shouldn't be getting angry at him...its probably his weird way of trying to be helpful." Lucario grumbles.

His ruby eyes shift around and notice some dark-gray clouds hightailing it towards the mansion. Knowing that his sunlight is about to leave, Lucario climbs off the duct and strolls back inside; finding that its about 7:15 according to one of the clocks on the inside hallways.

"Great, 15 minutes until breakfast...oh well, nothing better to do." Lucario shrugs before heading down the corridors, towards one of the stairways.

It was just as he was rounding a corner when he felt something as hard as a brick yet colder than ice wallop him in the back of the head. The force of the blow makes Lucario face-plant into the carpet, and he can hear the sound of muffled footsteps hurrying past.

The pokemon only pauses to make sure he wasn't bleeding before he growls and hurries after his ambusher.

Lucario tracks the sound of the footsteps around two more corners before they get out of earshot. Not ready to give up the chase yet, Lucario starts to open his aura-sight...but gets slammed back into the floor; this time with something landing on top of him.

Before any word could be uttered, Lucario groans from the shock of a third object landing atop him, then a fourth sliding into the side of the pile.

"What the hell?!" He angrily yells.

"Sorry Lucario." replies Samus' voice, coming from right next to his ear.

"Yea, we were chasing someone, rounded a corner and crashed right into you." adds Pikachu.

"Its fine, but can we continue talking _after_ you get off me?"

Whoever was atop Samus climbs off first, then she gets off Lucario. He stands up and stretches out his back before turning to see his fellow dog-pilers along with Ashe, Aile, Plusle, and Minun. "Ugh, so what was going on?" He asks.

"Someone practically destroyed the kitchen. We don't know exactly who, but Knuckles was found in the ruins." Samus explains.

"He claims he didn't do it, said something about battling with a 'thief' last night. Anyway, after he told his story, those of us that got woken up by Pit's screaming heard Luigi shriek and found him near the Brawl Room. He said something about a weird shadow that suddenly attacked him and ran off." Minun adds.

"We saw something dart away after carrying Luigi to the infirmary, and started chasing it. We rounded about four corners before suddenly colliding with you." Aile finishes.

"Whatever this thing was, its probably whoever punched me in the back of the head."

The crowd gasps, "You okay?"

"Fine. Sore, but fine. I was trying to track whatever this was with my aura-sight when I got run over."

Samus and Ashe glance away. "Sorry..." they mumble

"I'm no worse for wear, its alright. Now then..." Lucario closes his eyes again and spreads out his receptors. He can see his own blue glow mixing with the tan of the others...but the strange thing is...that's all he sees. No trail. "What? This can't be right..." he grumbles.

"What is it?" Plusle asks.

"The only auras I can see are ours. There isn't an eighth trail."

"Wait, I thought you said every living thing makes an aura field." Pikachu states, "If you're not finding one, does that mean we've got...what a-a ghost?"

"Pff, everyone knows ghosts aren't real." Ashe states.

"This coming from the girl who got beaten yesterday by a Spiritomb." Plusle comments.

"Arguing isn't going to help." Lucario orders, getting Ashe to look away with grunt. "We need to find whatever this is before-"

Lucario gets cut off when a loud, angry screech echoes down the hallway. Quick as a flash, Lucario is leading the charge and the group manages to round a corner in time to see Marth shoot around another. The hunters and pokemon rush after the swordsman and follow him into the ballroom, finding that he, Ike, DK, and Diddy have cornered...Knuckles?

Well...it _looked_ like Knuckles, but this thing was a black so dark that it almost swallowed the light around it. Instead, the light around the wraith kept flickering in the colors of the rainbow, but its eyes were glowing a strange golden-white.

Before anyone could say a word, the ghost charges at the group, scattering them like marbles as it tears past. The ghost tries to make a break for the door, but Pikachu leaps and launches a Thunderbolt to block its path.

The large mouse lands between ghost and door, growling as sparks jump from his cheeks. Two seconds later, Plusle and Minun have joined their larger cousin on guard duty, and their growling seems to distract the ghost long enough for DK to run up and send it flying into a wall with a good solid punch.

The gorilla starts beating his chest. "You will pay for copying friend!" he shrieks before charging towards it, only to get slugged to the far end of the ballroom. Ike tries the same tactic, but ends up with the same result.

Meanwhile, Diddy has managed to sneak around behind it and grabbed a hold of the ghost; covering its eyes with his hands while perching himself on its back. "I got him! I got him!" Diddy yells, prompting Samus and Ashe to start charging towards him.

Ghost-Knuckles doesn't stay blinded for long, he quickly reaches back and throws the monkey towards his attackers. The now airborne monkey careens into and takes out Samus, but Ashe manages to get by and punches the ghost in the eye.

While she's busy dealing blows and dodging the ghost's counters, Marth comes tearing in from the side; sword ready to cut through the wraith.

"Ashe! Move!" Marth yells.

She glances over to see him start to swing and quickly leaps away. As she does so, Aile comes flying in from above; launched forward thanks to a throw from Lucario. The brunette teen kicks off the wall behind the ghost and ricochets into it; slamming the ghost into Marth's sharp sword.

The wraith is quickly cut in two and lands near the middle of the ballroom. Each half dissolves into a puddle of black liquid while the smashers gather nearby; those who were injured nursing whatever place they got hit.

"So what the hell was that thing anyway?" Aile asks.

"Negative." Ike grumbles.

"What?" Plusle asks.

"It was a Negative. A dark copy of a smasher." Lucario answers. "But it shouldn't even exist in the first place."

"Back during Brawl, when the whole Subspace Incident happened, eventually we came across these weird doppelgangers of ourselves." Marth adds, "Since they were like silhouettes of us, we called them Negatives."

"You know, like the negative of a photograph." Samus clarifies. "But, before we destroyed Tabuu, we had to kill off all of the Negatives. How another one got created, I don't know."

They quiet down to think when the puddles of liquid suddenly tremble, then lurch forward and grab onto the heads of DK and Ike.

The two flail a little before suddenly falling to ground as the puddles leap away, growing into Negative versions of the gorilla and swordsman.

"Guess we know how a Negative Knuckles was made." Pikachu remarks, starting to spark at his cheeks.

Instead of attacking, the Negative-DK slams its fist into the ground a couple times and breaks a hole down to the gymnasium. Both of the copies escape through it.

"Not only do we have two copies on the loose now, but now Master's going to be furious over his mansion getting damaged." Pikachu comments.

"Speaking of the hand, didn't you guys go to tell him after Luigi got attacked?" Lucario asks.

"He wasn't in his office." Diddy answers. "We don't know where he is."

"Believe me, if we did find him, those Negatives wouldn't be running loose right now." Marth adds.

"_Dare I ask what happened?"_ Mewtwo's telepathic voice asks, getting the still conscious smashers to look down the hole. Mewtwo, Blaze, and Sonic are looking back at them.

"We found out what our intruder is. A Negative." Samus states.

"_Don't be absurd Samus, all the Negatives are dead."_

Samus glares at the pokemon but instead lifts and shows them Ike. "Do you call this absurd? We cornered a Negative of Knuckles in here and cut it in half. The two halves attacked Ike and DK, copied them, then made this hole and escaped."

"_Great...You guys get Ike and DK to the infirmary, I'll let everyone else know what is running loose in this house and set up some guards. We can't let these things find their way into the town."_

"Can you guys handle the two sleepers?" Lucario asks. After getting some nods he hops down the hole and joins with Blaze and Sonic. "So where to?"

"We just came from the hall leading to the Record Room, want to circle back to Master's office?" Sonic suggests.

"Why not?"

The three friends leave Mewtwo to his mental communications while the bounty hunters plus five start moving DK and Ike away.

As Lucario, Blaze, and Sonic round a corner, Lucario asks, "So I heard Pit woke everyone up?"

"Yea, how'd you not hear him?" Sonic replies, "Angel-boy shrieked loud enough to wake the dead on Mobius."

"I was up on the roof and didn't hear a thing."

"Lucky you." Blaze groans, "My ears are still ringing from it...I can only imagine how badly Rouge's must be. You wouldn't happen to have any berries that cure ear-aches would you?"

"Nope, I don't think there is such a berry." Lucario replies, "Sorry."

"Figured I might as well ask...there seems to be a berry that works on every other ailment."

They stop just outside the doors to the office and find them still shut. Negatives really didn't seem to be a polite or smart creature, so its really unlikely one of them ran in there and shut the door. The three friends continue on down the hallway, round a couple more turns, and check the indoor running track. Still nothing.

"Okay this is creepy. Where are they?" Sonic states more than asks.

"If I could track them by aura, I would."

"And since Mewtwo didn't sense any strange thought patterns, I doubt he can follow them either." Blaze remarks. "Well, there's a stairway just up ahead, should we go check up on the third floor? Or go down to the first in the foyer?"

"I'm pretty sure that Samus and the others are patrolling the third floor, so why not head down to the first?" Lucario answers

Sonic shrugs and follows the other two out and down to the foyer. They check in the kitchen and find that, apart from it being in pieces, its not interesting. Lucario winces at the damage...Knuckles must have put up quite a fight against whatever the Negative had copied first.

"Yea, evidence of why you shouldn't rough-house with Knux huh?" Sonic rhetorically asks, snickering a little at Lucario's expression. "Come on guys, there's no Negative here."

Once they get out into the foyer, the group discovers Bowser, Ganondorf, and Wolf standing guard at the front doors. "Keep searching." Bowser grunts, "We've got this exit covered."

"Scaly's right." Wolf adds, "And a lot o' the others have moved outside to form a perimeter, those Negatives aren't gonna get out o' here."

"Thanks guys." Sonic replies, leading his friends into the study.

Once the three are out of sight, Bowser turns and snarls at Wolf. "Don't call me Scaly."

"Ah simmer down mate. Its not like I shot ya or anything."

"Yea, that's _your _department." The Koopa King snarls, shifting his gaze to drill through the back of Ganon's head.

"Shut it, both of you. Save the fighting for the Negatives." Ganon snaps. The other two huff and look away.

* * *

Over the next ten minutes, Sonic, Lucario, and Blaze look through the study, information center, indoor garden, and auditorium. Still no sign of either Negative.

"What the hell?" Sonic asks, scratching his head. "Where'd they go?"

"You think they might be hiding in the suites?" Blaze asks.

"_They aren't there."_ Mewtwo's voice replies. _"Falco, Fox, and Krystal just finished there."_

"They went into our rooms?!" Blaze exclaims.

"_No, but they did check the doors. All still locked and closed."_

Blaze sighs in relief.

"Thanks Mewtwo." Lucario says. "Any idea where the Negatives are?"

"_I've got my hands full keeping track of all fifty-one of you. Besides, I can't track Negatives for whatever reason."_

"Thanks anyway."

"_No problem...no, Yoshi, you just looked over there!"_ Mewtwo's telepathy cuts off, probably to exclude whoever wasn't in the current conversation.

"Come on guys, house isn't going to search itself." Lucario says, leading the other two out of the auditorium and right down the hall to the arcade.

At first there isn't any sign of anyone among the game systems; the arcade is dead quiet...which in itself is strange. Even if there isn't anyone playing, there's at least a soft hum of the systems idling, just to be ready at any moment for a player. But there wasn't any sound, all the games were off.

"Why are the-" Sonic's question gets cut off when one of the arcade consoles suddenly turns on with a loud pop, roars with static, then shuts off.

A few more consoles do the same thing before Negative-DK comes charging in through the back door of the arcade. The phony ape roars before tearing a console right out of the floor and chucking it towards the smashers. Luckily, all three of them manage to avoid the debris, but about six other machines aren't as lucky and get piled up in a mess of twisted electronics.

Sonic is the first to counter, quickly jumping between the machines before Spin Dashing right into the Negative's gut. The wraith gets tossed against the wall and appears to be stunned, but manages to recover in time to swat away another Spin Dash.

Just as it roars, Blaze comes in from behind to land a Flame Accel to toss Negative-DK into the Smash Kart machines. Like their brethren, the racing games are smashed beyond repair, but no damage seems to have been done to the ape.

Even after Lucario slams the copy with two Aura Spheres, the fake-ape is still standing and unharmed. Well...it looks a bit more angry, but no physical damage seems to have been done.

The gorilla charges forward, swinging its fists wildly about in every which way. Again the three smashers scatter to avoid getting hit, after all this isn't a match. This is the real world and that _is_ a cranky eight-hundred pound gorilla.

"This is nuts, how do we hurt that thing?" Sonic asks, landing atop one of the intact game clusters. "Its like beating on Sandbag, only this guy fights back."

"Like I'm supposed to know?" Lucario replies after landing beside the wreckage of the ape's first attack. "All I know is that if we cut him in half, we'll wind up with two more Negatives running loose."

"Then how do we win?" Blaze asks, throwing a few fireballs from her spot near the Dance Dance Revolution machines. The Negative just puts up an arm and blocks them.

"Lets take Knuckles' approach." Sonic suggests, charging towards the ape and landing another Spin Dash. "Keep beating on him until he stays down." In the blink of an eye, Sonic unleashes his famous Light-speed Attack on Negative-DK...but again, the ape seems to be unfazed. It starts throwing a fist towards the blue hedgehog, but is quickly blasted in the side by another Aura Sphere and stops mid-attack.

While the two blue boys are keeping the dark ape busy, Blaze has managed to sneak around the scuffle and climb onto the Smash Band stage. She's managed to think up a desperate idea that might be able to win the battle...or put her in a world of trouble.

The princess of fire grabs hold of both guitar controllers, spins them around to hold onto the necks, then charges towards the battle. With a battle-cry yelled, Blaze leaps off the stage and brings both guitars down onto the back of Negative-DK's head. Again, it doesn't look like any physical damage was done, but hopefully the blow was able to knock the creature unconscious.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to have happened either. Instead the ape goes into a rage and swings a single hand 360 degrees and sends the smashers flying; Sonic into a support pillar, Lucario into a game cluster, and Blaze back up on-stage and into the wall behind.

The feline shakes her head to ward off the stun and opens her eyes to see Negative-DK standing over her, fist already pulled back. With her whole body throbbing from the first attack, all Blaze can do is weakly brace herself.

Just as she thinks that there's no way out, Blaze sees a large blur shoot up beside her and catch Negative-DK's attack. She blinks to see Lucario standing in front of her, holding back Negative-DK's fist with a single paw, his aura field so energized that his whole body is glowing blue.

Lucario fiercely growls and his aura field flashes to a dark red before he channels the energy into his free hand, then slugs the phantom ape so hard it gets thrown clear across the room. The canine's fur seems to bristle with anger before the really weird happens; three large, pitch black claws sprout out of each hand.

He snarls at the ape before leaping away, allowing Sonic to limp up next to Blaze and help his fellow mobian; but both pairs of eyes are trained on the pokemon.

"What happened to him?" Blaze asks.

"I really don't know Blaze...I don't think ever seen Lucario this ticked before." Sonic replies. "Anywhere near this ticked...but what about you, you in one piece?"

"Yea...I hurt like mad, but I doubt anything is broken. You?"

"I think I slammed my left leg, it feels numb."

"_Attention everyone!"_ booms Mewtwo's voice. _"Master Hand has been found! Lead both Negatives into the foyer!"_

"Lucario!" Sonic yells, "You hear Mewtwo?!"

"Already on it!" Lucario replies, quickly blasting Negative-DK out of the arcade and into the hallway. The mobians manage to make it to and out the same door in time to see Lucario easily forcing the phantom out into the foyer.

Just as Negative-DK gets forced into the foyer, Negative-Ike is tossed in from the living room courtesy of Samus and her team. Barely a second later, Master Hand comes bursting out of the door to the basement and hovers menacingly over the cornered Negatives.

"You things invade my home, injure my guests, damage my property, and had the nerve to knock me out in my own basement!" he roars. "Say hello to oblivion!"

Lightning bolts come tearing out of Master's finger-tips and zap clean into the Negatives, dissolving them into a purplish mist. Immediately Master Hand snaps and the mist gets sucked into a single point before disappearing with a pop.

Lucario pants a little before letting his dark claws vanish, then joins with the rest of the crowd that is gathering around Master Hand.

"Oh, my dearest guests, I'm so sorry about all the trouble those wretched things caused. Tell me, is everyone alright?" Master asks.

"Knuckles, Luigi, DK, and Ike all got knocked out by them." Samus replies, "Ashe, the mice, and myself got a little dinged up handling Negative-Ike, Aile went plunging down into the pool from the sky-lounge, but she's good."

"Yup, just wet and bruised." Aile confirms.

"Lucario, Sonic, and I got a little battered trying to handle Negative-DK, but we're fine as well." Blaze adds.

"I think the rest of us are either intact or a little scuffed." Lucario finishes.

"Can't say the same about the mansion." Sonic comments. "Arcade's in pieces."

"Ballroom's got a hole in it." Marth adds.

"Its okay, its okay," Master says, cutting them off, "the mansion can be repaired; lives can't. But I'm afraid we've got another problem on our hands...the entire Smash System is on the fritz."

"Can't you just reboot it?" Wolf asks.

Master Hand rounds on Wolf, giving him the glove-version of a death stare. "The Smash System is the most powerful supercomputer in the entire galaxy; capable of performing ten-googol calculations per second, holding one-to-the-ten-quintillionth power terabytes of memory with three-hundred-trillion zettahertz processors _and_ at least ten-million miles of circuitry and fiber optics. You can't just _reboot_ it!" Master exclaims. "And even if you could, the virus that is disrupting the system has already bypassed the security protocols, although how I don't know. Its rooted itself inside of the system's OS, there _isn't_ any way of destroying it without security programs other than reformatting the memory; but that could take months to complete and recover from!"

About ninety-five percent of the present smashers stare blankly at Master Hand, lost at "ten googol calculations."

"So..." one of them probes.

ROB, who understood everything perfectly, simplifies what Master had said. "The Smash System's operating system is what allows the computer to do anything in the first place. Whatever is causing the system's bad behavior has invaded the operating system and is now virtually untouchable."

"So now what?" Falco asks; he, Fox, and Krystal had shown up just before Wolf asked his question. "We cancel Smash Brothers?"

"I need some time to think; please, everyone, try not to worry. I will figure out some way of destroying that virus and restoring operations." Master calmly states, "As for the rest of today, enjoy it like you would a free day; with that virus damaging the Smash System, it is far too dangerous to run any Clashes. ROB, Mewtwo, I want both of you to meet me in my office...I'll probably need your help."

The large hand disappears and the crowd begins to disperse; off to find some kind of low-tech way of killing time. Lucario starts for the stairway to the second floor, but gets stopped when Sonic gently grabs his arm.

"You okay?" the hedgehog asks while the pokemon turns around.

"A little battered, but fine." Lucario shrugs.

"I don't think that's what Sonic was talking about." Blaze states.

"Towards the end of our fight, you went...crazy." Sonic explains, "I've never seen you that angry before."

"I was tired of our attacks doing nothing to Negative-DK. I just lost my cool for a second, I'm fine."

"You never lose your cool!" Sonic exclaims.

"Lucario, if something's-" Blaze gets cut off as Lucario pulls free of Sonic's hand.

"I appreciate your concern, but I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a headache that needs to be tended to." Lucario (almost rudely) says before quickly walking up the stairs and out of sight.

Sonic shakes his head. "What a liar, its obvious that something's got him on edge. Nothing sets off Lucario like that...hardly anything sets off that guy at all!"

"I'm still concerned about those claws he formed. Have you ever seen Lucario do something like that?" Blaze asks.

"Its kinda distant...but I vaguely remember hearing Falco mention Lucario using an attack like that during the Subspace Incident. What did he call it? Umm..." Sonic pauses, scratching at his head, "...Shadow Claw?"

A shiver darts down Blaze's spine at Sonic's answer. "What an ominous name...I don't know Sonic, something seems off about it."

"I've talked with Red, he says plenty of pokemon can learn Shadow Claw."

"That's not it...something just wasn't right with that attack." Blaze shakes her head, "I'm probably just reading too much into things, it probably just caught me off-guard. Later Sonic." she finishes with a wave while beginning to walk away.

"Later Blaze." Sonic replies before darting outside, aiming to spend the rest of today running around.

Blaze only takes a few steps before the image of a Shadow Claw wielding Lucario reappears in her mind. She shakes the nasty thought away. _If I didn't know any better...Lucario almost seemed like another person when those claws were out._

**

* * *

**

**To help define some things; googol is the name for the number one followed by 100 zeros (honest), zetta the prefix denoting ten to the 21st power, and a tera is one trillion (1 followed by 12 zeros).**

**Negative: I don't know if this is their real name or not, but that's what I call those copies of you that are fought in the Great Maze level of Brawl's adventure mode. Not to be confused with a False, which has similar coloring to a smasher but golden eyes and a purple haze around it (think the giant Diddy that appears right after you find Falco), or a Fake, which are the virtual copies that a smasher has to deal with when doing certain stadium challenges.**

**If there are any other unclear elements, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer. Since I've got the near future of this story mapped out, hopefully it won't take long to update again. I suppose its up to how much homework school tries to give.**


	25. Starting a Vacation

Chapter 25 Starting a Vacation

Lucario nonchalantly stands in the foyer leaning against the wall with shoulder and his bag hanging from his free one. The pokemon stifles a bored yawn while humming a tune in his head; something to pass the time as he waited for the others...why it took so long to put things into a suitcase, he'll never know.

Master Hand had made an announcement that the Smash System, after the valiant deeds of a handful of smashers, has begun its self-repair procedures and would also be undergoing a critical update; a procedure that would mean a week without any access to anything linked to the system. No Clashes, no Stadium events, no arcade, no music...pretty much nothing.

Shortly after that announcement, Master delivered another that was much more uplifting; a week-long vacation for everyone! While the hand never told them _where_ they were going (he claims he wanted it to be a surprise) everybody was so elated that they didn't even care. All of the smashers were excited to spend a week at some resort, even if nobody knew where they were staying. One thing was for sure though, Master booked the most luxurious resort possible...how the crowd of fifty-two smashers are actually going to _get_ to the resort is another matter entirely.

That was five minutes ago...

...and it only took Lucario three minutes to get his things and move downstairs to wait; only because he chose to walk instead of run.

Lucario's bored-yawn comes back and wrenches itself out at full force, getting his canines to glint in the light. Mew had gone back to Pokenoa for whatever reason and wouldn't be joining, so until any of his friends finished packing he was stuck.

The pokemon shakes his head, _What in the world is keeping them? I thought for sure Sonic would be done minutes ahead of me._

As if to answer his question, a quick blur of blue rushes across the second-floor landing, down the stairs, and up to Lucario; leaving Sonic behind. "What up dude?" the hedgehog asks, setting his suitcase down next to him before leaning back against the wall and putting his hands behind his head.

The pokemon shrugs, "What took you?"

"There are some things I can't do at the speed of sound." Sonic replies, chuckling a little at Lucario's reaction. "Everyone has to."

Lucario half-grunts in reply before shutting his eyes. Sonic would've thought his friend was trying to get some sleep had Lucario's tail not been rhythmically swinging back and forth; maybe that was his way of not dozing off.

The rest of the smashers file into the foyer over the next fifteen minutes, anxious for Master Hand to show up and start their vacation. The right hand arrives on schedule and surveys his guests for a quick second. "Well, I can see everyone is ready. If you'll all just follow me."

The hand snaps to open the front doors, then leads his guests out of the mansion and around back. They behold the wonderful rolling hills, but no visible form of transportation. Just as some open their mouths to ask, a faint form moves out from behind the clouds. The small white dot seems to steadily grow larger...almost like it was getting closer.

Before anyone realized it, the Halberd is looming over the crowd; its massive size casting the large group into shadow. Since there isn't any special dock the battleship can't completely land, but it does begin hovering about twelve feet or so off the ground.

A hatch opens on the bottom of the ship to let a ramp lower itself. Once the metal entryway touches the ground, a small green creature quickly runs down the ramp and up to the crowd; meeting up with Meta who was near the front.

Its whole body was coated in light green armor and a magenta-red mask covers its face. Despite not having any visible eye-holes, the creature still seems to be able to see just fine. Completing his attire is a dark-red sash around where his waist seems to be, holding a simple silver sword against his side.

"Tell me Blade, are the preparations complete?" Meta inquires, firmly speaking to his soldier.

"Of course Lord Meta Knight." Blade replies, giving his commander a slight bow. "We've managed to scrounge enough furniture to accommodate our passengers in relative comfort during our flight, and Sword is entering the coordinates into the computer as we speak."

"Excellent." Meta replies, his eyes flashing pink for a millisecond. "Show the others where to stay during our flight. I'll be waiting in the command bridge when you're done." With that, Meta spreads his wings and takes off, taking his suitcase with him.

Blade walks up to and looks up at the rest of the crowd (he wasn't any taller than Meta). "You heard the commander, if you all will just follow me we can get on our way. And please, don't touch anything along the way."

"Bon voyage my guests!" Master exclaims, "Have a good time on vacation! Don't cause any trouble for your new host!"

"You're not coming?" Yoshi asks, looking up at the hand. "Then how are we going to talk?"

Master waves himself, "I can still keep reality warped enough so you all may talk one language, I just won't be present. Someone needs to look after the Smash System as it restores itself and, quite frankly, I'll grow three eyeballs and a beard before letting Crazy watch over something as delicate as my System." Master replies, "Farewell! Have fun! See you all in a week!" He flies back to the mansion, leaving his Smashers to board the tremendous airship.

The inside of the Halberd is stark metal walls and piping, clearly beauty was _way _down on Meta's construction list, but the room Blade leads the Smashers to is acceptable. It was pretty large and was probably (normally) a spare storage room. The walls and floor are still metal, but a few rugs have been laid out and plenty of cushioned chairs sit in small clusters around the room. There are several windows in the left wall for them to look out of, but apart from that the only entertainment is...well...nothing.

"I apologize for the lack of amenities, but this _is_ a battleship first. These should keep you all happy during the approximately hour-long flight. If need be, there are a few bathrooms further down the hall that you _might _be able to fit in. The only requests Lord Meta Knight has are; don't destroy the furniture, don't damage anything, and don't kill each other." Blade explains. The little knight bows, then turns on his heel and hurries off to who knows where.

The crowd of smashers barely have enough time to enter their room before a deep rumbling rolls across them while the Halberd starts vibrating, then begins to lift up. Suddenly, a much louder roar tears past the crowd as the ship lurches forward and starts accelerating.

The deafening noise subsides after a second as the Halberd levels off at roughly the speed of a bus; giving the passengers plenty of time and little trouble as they diffuse across the room and claim seats, setting their luggage at their feet. As could be expected the Smashers clustered into the groups of friends; with Lucario's gang claiming some seats beneath a couple windows.

"So where do ya think Master's sending us?" Falco asks, glancing at the fluffy white clouds outside the window. "We're not goin' very fast, think its somewhere on this planet?"

"_Attention passengers."_ States Meta's voice as it comes in through the intercom. _"Please brace yourselves, we're about to accelerate to escape velocity."_

Without even giving the smashers a second to even breathe; another roar comes tearing through the cabin as the Halberd lurches again and begins rapidly accelerating. Most if not all of the Smashers get shaken out of their seats and tumble back against a wall, landing in several large piles.

The roar quiets down as the battleship's speed levels off again, only this time its easy to tell they are going very fast. Much, much faster than even Sonic could go.

The groaning piles untangle themselves before the smashers stagger back to their seats. Nobody was seriously injured (thankfully Bowser landed away from everyone else) but they were all sore.

"Would it kill Meta to give us more than half-a-second warning when he does something like that?" Sonic angrily hisses, rubbing at the spot on his head where skull connected with metal wall.

"The message did say 'brace yourselves'. I don't se how that was so hard." Lucario replies, he was the only one that didn't budge.

"Easy for you, _we_ can't cling to stuff with aura." Sonic retorts, childishly sticking his tongue out at the pokemon.

Lucario rolls his eyes before glancing out the window, now finding stars outside instead of clouds. "Guess our leaving the planet strikes the idea of a local vacation." he comments.

"Any guesses as to where we're going?" Blaze asks, doing her best not to look outside.

"I don't know of many deluxe resorts on Corneria." Falco answers. "Think we're going to...uh, Hyrule?"

Shiek shakes her head, "Hyrule isn't the best vacation spot. There are some beautiful places, but none large enough for us."

"We've got resorts on Mobius, but I doubt we're going there." Sonic remarks.

"What makes you say that?"

"Everytime...and I mean _every. Freaking. _Time my friends and I try having a vacation, Eggman shows up and ruins everything. I really doubt he'll last long against all of us, but just one Eggman speech is enough to ruin a vacationing mood, right Blaze?"

"Ugh, you've got that right." The feline replies. "Pokenoa maybe?"

Lucario shrugs, keeping his eyes trained out the window. "I've seen plenty of resorts, but none large enough for us. What about any of the others?"

"The Mushroom Kingdom?" Falco suggests.

"Falco, Bowser is going to be with everyone else. Why would we vacation in the Mushroom Kingdom if we've got their arch-enemy on-board?" Shiek questions.

"I don't know, they keep inviting him to so many sports tournaments its hard to tell if he's an enemy or not." Falco replies. "Umm...lets see...Neo-Earth seems a little too dangerous going off what Aile and Ashe said...I don't remember Samus mentioning any "scenic, peaceful" planets...I've got no clue."

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see." Lucario states.

"If all we can do is wait, I'm going to take a nap." Sonic states, turning around in his chair to lay his head back on one arm and lets his legs hang over the other. He exaggerates a yawn before shutting his eyes. "Wake me when we get there."

"Blue boy's got the right idea. G'night guys." Falco adds, doing the same as his hedgehog buddy.

"If the takeoff is anything to go by, they're in for a rude awakening." Shiek whispers to Blaze, getting the latter to giggle.

While the two ladies begin to talk between themselves, Lucario zones out; hypnotized by the lights speeding by the window. For whatever reason, he just couldn't shake a nagging feeling that _something_ is going to happen this vacation; whether it would be a good something or a bad one, he couldn't tell.

_Dammit...why can't I settle down? Then again, after what happened with Negative-DK yesterday...maybe I'm just wound up too tight. Once we get there and I can relax, I'll be fine._ His thoughts pause for a second. _So why am I not convincing myself? I've-_

"Lucario?" a voice asks, snapping the pokemon from his musings.

"Hmm?" The pokemon grunts while turning to the voice, finding Blaze looking at him for the neighboring chair.

"You alright? I said your name four times before you responded."

Lucario nods, "I'm alright...just spacing out."

"Don't want to sleep?" Blaze asks, gesturing to their now snoring companions.

"Can't. Something's bugging me."

"What?"

"I don't know." Lucario replies while shrugging. "I just feel like...something weird is going to happen on this vacation."

"Weird?" Blaze parrots.

"Best word I got. Don't worry about it, I'm probably just on edge from what happened at the mansion, that's all. A few days of relaxing, and I'll be fine. So what's up? Where'd Shiek go?"

"She went to go sit with Link, Zelda, and Midna. The two princesses were starting an argument, so she went over to break it up and save poor Link."

"Poor Link?"

"They were fighting over him."

"Ah..." Lucario nods. "What about you? You ready for a vacation?" The pokemon pauses, "Without Eggman ruining it?"

"Yes." Blaze simply answers. "Don't tell Sonic this, but I'm hoping that we're staying somewhere tropical and coastal. I like lounging on the beach or walking down the shore with an ocean breeze ruffling through my fur." The feline sighs as she gazes out the window, with no planet in view her acrophobia isn't kicking in. "Sonic hates water, but I love it...weird for a cat, huh?"

Lucario shrugs, "So you like swimming?"

"Well...I'm the kinda girl that likes being around the coast, but I'm not much of a swimmer. I _can_, I just don't _like_ to."

Lucario 'hmms' before quieting down.

"What about you? Do you like the coast?"

"Its not bad. Like you, I enjoy letting a sea breeze blow across you, or sun-bathing on the sand. Its nice, but not my favorite place in the world...mostly because trainers like to gather on beaches as well."

"There's a pretty good chance that wherever we're going won't have any trainers except Red and May, and I heard Master made them leave their empty pokeballs behind."

"That's a bit of a relief." Lucario says before turning silent.

Blaze quiets down for a few minutes before asking, "Kinda reminds you of our 'date' atop the mansion huh?"

Lucario turns a little red. "D-date?" he stutters.

"You know, our dancing? When everyone else was at the ball? All these stars remind me of then." Blaze explains, "Thanks again Lucario...that was one of the kindest things anyone's done for me."

"It really wasn't anything, but you're welcome Blaze." Lucario replies, still blushing a little. "I wouldn't call it a date exactly..."

"A guy and a girl spending a night together? How is that not a date?"

Lucario shrugs, the back of his mind racing for something that would help his argument. Nothing from that night seemed to deny that they _were _on a date, but something else catches his attention...something Blaze said...'_If you need to talk about something, I'm here, okay?_'

"Maybe you can help with something..." Lucario mumbles.

"What was that?" Blaze asks.

"Uh..." Lucario pauses, he didn't realize he talked out loud. "Blaze? You said you'd be here if I needed to talk about something...right?"

"Of course."

"Well, I don't really need to talk so much as ask a favor..."

"Just name it." Blaze replies.

"Do you think..." Lucario's throat starts to dry out, "Umm...do you think you could keep an eye on me?"

"I'm not completely following."

"Just keep an eye on me in case I start acting strangely."

"What do you mean strangely?" Blaze asks, curious and a little worried at Lucario's words.

"You understand that sometimes I need to vent aura, right?" She nods, "Well...sometimes when my aura gets too energized, but not plentiful enough to become painful, I start acting differently. I get irritable and violent...keep an eye on me and, if I do start acting that way, help me get away so I can calm down."

Blaze watches her friend for a few more seconds, going over his words and his tone in her mind. She got the feeling that he wasn't telling her the whole truth, but if she starts asking about it he's probably going to retreat behind his wall like he did after the Negatives were destroyed. Maybe she needed to try a new technique...

"Sure thing Lucario. You start acting like a jerk, and I get you out of there." Blaze replies, "But on one condition. If I do, I want you to talk to me about it later. Deal?"

"Deal."

Blaze holds a hand out in front of her friend and only extends her pinky, "Promise?"

Lucario gives the princess a half-smile and rests one of his much larger fingers into hers. "Promise."

Their hands separate and the two go back to looking out the window.

* * *

The hour slips by without notice, only marked by the intercom buzzing before Meta informs, _"Attention passengers, we are no about three minutes from our destination. Brace yourselves for deceleration."_

Once again, no time is given before the ship starts slowing down. At least the change in speed wasn't quite as dramatic as before, so the smashers (except Lucario) just toppled out of their seats instead of getting thrown against a wall. After getting up, the smashers cluster around the windows for a look at the new planet.

The place was pretty big, not as giant as Staria, but still big. An enormous sparkling blue ocean covers most of the surface while the land seems to be divided into three continents; a small southern one coated in green, a large northern one painted white, and a huge central one big enough to wrap around the sphere and onto the far side; and this isn't counting the handful of islands scattered across the sea. This large one is mostly green, but has a large brown area at one end that seems to be a desert. The moon (if there are any) isn't visible, but it (or they) could simply be behind the planet.

Before any of the others could ask what this place was, both Colette and Lloyd cheer. "We're going home to Sylvarant!" Lloyd exclaims.

"Sylvarant huh? Is it a nice place?" Link asks.

"I like it." Colette replies. "Good weather, friendly people, pretty places."

"I wonder where we'll be staying...oh, maybe another mansion!" Peach exclaims before her eyes start sparkling and her giggles ring out.

"That's a good question...Colette where are we staying?" Lloyd asks, turning to his blonde friend. "As far as I know, mansions are only at Meltokio...but that city really doesn't seem to be designed for vacationers."

"Good point Lloyd...hmm...Iselia's too small, same with Izoold...and Luin." The angel looks up at the ceiling, deep in thought. "Oh! Altamira!"

"Duh! Of course!"

"Altamira?" Some of the others question.

"Its this big, luxury resort on the coast. Its got an amusement park, outdoor theater, boardwalk, casino, and miles of beautiful beaches." Lloyd explains, "Not to mention the most luxurious hotel on the whole planet...if not the whole galaxy."

Colette nods in agreement. "And the whole town is owned by our friend. He's really nice and generous, so I'm sure he's the one Master Hand contacted."

The rest of the crowd begins to eagerly chat among themselves, fantasizing about the waiting resort. Even Sonic, though somewhat put-off by its "coastal" status, quickly perked up after hearing that it wasn't on an island.

Lucario, however, still seems a little out of it. He too was anticipating a great time, but there was still that distracting voice saying something was going to happen.

The three minutes pass in three seconds, with the only noticeable change being the stars replaced with clouds. Suddenly a loud splash is heard while water gets tossed up by the windows before the whole Halberd starts to gently rock back-and-forth. Seems like the only place large enough for the ship to land was some sort of inlet.

"_Attention passengers, we have now arrived at the Altamira Resort. Please gather up your things and follow the arrows out to the main deck, where a ladder is already in place to let you descend."_

"You guys want me to wait?" Lucario asks. His bag his is still hanging from his shoulder, but the rest of the luggage is all in a pile from the landing procedures.

"Nah, go on ahead. We'll catch up." Falco answers. "Make sure you don't spook the locals!" he jokingly adds.

Lucario rolls his eyes before leaving the room, finding a simple red arrow on a piece of paper pointing his way. After rounding a few corners and coming out a door, Lucario is indeed out on the main deck; just behind Main Cannon #2. He can hear three voices talking with each other down by the right side of the ship, but can't tell who they are.

Just as the pokemon comes out from behind the large weapon, Meta leaps up on deck. "Well the locals definitely are friendly." The little knight states. "And easily impressed."

"Its hard not to be impressed by this flying fortress Meta." Lucario replies.

"True, true."

"Hey, how'd we get to a whole new planet in an hour anyway?"

Meta seems to snicker. "Someone's never heard of star-gates before. If you'll excuse me, I must get my own bag from the bridge." With that Meta bustles past; eager to get his things and starts his vacation.

Lucario continues on, reaching the right side of the airship and looking down; finding a simple wooden pier at the bottom of a rope ladder and two people standing down below. The pokemon gracefully leaps from the deck, front-flips once, and elegantly lands on the pier below; barely eliciting a creak of wood from the twenty-foot jump.

Now at their level, Lucario finds the locals to be two men; one an adult and the other an adolescent. The adult is wearing a fine black suit with a dark-navy tie; a nice compliment to his long, cobalt hair which seems to be in a similar style to Zelda. Clamped over his wrists are two metal bracelets and encasing his feet are leather and metal boots that don't stop until halfway up his shins. His blue eyes show a bit of surprise at the leap, but are otherwise unstartled. The most noticeable feature is how muscular he is; not overly so, but he's probably strong enough to give Ike a good arm-wrestling challenge.

The other one, the teenager, is in much less formal attire; a simple pair of sky-blue shorts and a sky-blue T-shirt. His silvery blue hair is quite spiky with three prominent ones that dwarf the rest; one coming down from each side-burn and the third sprouting from his forehead. He's a bit short and slim, but it seems natural for him. Like his older companion, this native also has blue eyes; but this pair is much darker, almost a navy, and wide in surprise.

"Whoa!" The teenager exclaims, "I haven't seen someone jump like that before!"

"Indeed, that was the quite the impressive feat." The adult adds, his calm tone almost contradicting his words.

Lucario accepts his praise with a half-nod. "Its nothing." he replies, "And you are?"

"Oh, my apologies." The adult replies before extending a hand. "Regal Byrant, head of the Lezareno Company and owner of the Altamira Resort." Lucario gives the man a polite nod before shaking his hand.

"Genis Sage," the teen adds, extending his own, "I don't have any title really, but I'm a good friend of Lloyd, Colette, and Regal."

Lucario gives Genis the same polite nod before shaking the teen's hand. "A pleasure to meet the two of you. Lucario." The pokemon replies, even though he was pretty sure they both knew his name already.

"Oh no. No. The pleasure is all mine." Regal corrects. "It is a true honor for my resort to host some of the most renown celebrities on Sylvarant and Tethe'alla."

"Please, I'm not that famous."

"Yes you are!" Genis replies, "I myself am a huge fan of yours, and I know of several dozen others that are fans as well. I haven't missed any of your matches since I carry my view-crystal everywhere."

"View-crystal?"

Regal and Genis pull a small cubic crystal out of their pockets. "We use these special crystals that Master Hand created to watch the matches." Regal explains, "We really haven't developed a household version of what he called...TV yet, so he lets us use these instead."

"Practically everyone has one, and we're all big Smash Brothers fans." Genis adds, pocketing the small gem.

"Hmm...I always wondered about that." Lucario mutters, "May I ask where the resort is?"

"About a mile to the west." Regal answers, "This inlet is the closest place that could fit this flying ship."

"If you want, I can lead you there." Genis suggests.

"Wouldn't it be better to wait for some of the others?"

"I've got some guides on their way here right now, its fine if you want to go with Genis." Regal states. "Don't worry, your friends will be along soon enough."

"Alright." Lucario shrugs, "Lead the way Genis."

The teen nods before leading the pokemon away from the Halberd, leaving Regal to greet his guests whenever they came out.

The two walk in silence for a ways before Genis tries to strike up some conversation. "You're going to love it at Altamira, Lucario. Its got to be one of the best places to relax in the world."

"So I've heard."

"And the best thing is that they just finished the construction of two additions to the hotel about a week ago. All the construction is cleaned up and the place looks wonderful."

"Cool, new rooms?"

"Plenty. The only problem is...Altamira's so popular that it frequently gets booked up, and the busy season is starting. I heard Regal mention something about so many reservations already made that most of you guys have to share a room with another smasher."

"Really? I better not get room with Snake or there's not going to be any peace."

"Regal takes really good care of his guests, I'm sure he and Master Hand had a long conversation to work out the arrangements. I really doubt anyone is going to have to lodge with someone they don't like." Genis says, then pulls what looks to be a few gummy candies out of his pocket. "Gel?"

"Sure." Lucario answers, grabbing a red one and popping it into his mouth. Immediately the sweet taste of apples floods his tongue. After swallowing, he remarks, "Delicious...I'll have to give you a berry later."

"Nah, you don't have to." Genis says, putting his hands behind his head, "Its repayment enough just being able to walk with someone as cool as you."

Even though he didn't notice, Lucario almost looked...upset from that last comment. The frown only lasted half-a-second, but if it was spotted, one would almost think Lucario was...hurt.

The two continue on in silence the rest of the way, passing the other guides about halfway there. The two reach Altamira and Genis can't help but smirk at Lucario's awe-struck look.

The city truly is beautiful; the streets are all tan cobblestone, gardens occupy every space that a souvenir or snack cart doesn't, and past the front area is what looks to be a roller coaster reaching up into the sky. The most dominating and gorgeous feature, apart from the pale beaches and sparkling blue ocean, is that gigantic glass tower just inside the gate; it must've had at least twenty floors and just behind it are two replicas about three-quarters the size of their friend.

"Impressed?" Genis asks.

"Yea..."

Genis chuckles to himself. "The towers are the hotel, you can check in right past the doors. I'd help, but I'm probably needed back at your friend's ship. Can you handle this alone?"

After a nod, Genis hurries back the way they came; leaving Lucario to enter the city and the hotel on his own.

The instant the hotel doors slide open, the pleasant trickling of water greets his ears as he finds a small ornate bridge in front of him. The bridge leads to a center platform where the reception desk is, and from there are paths onward, left, and right which lead to another door (which most likely allowed access to the new additions), an information desk, and an elevator respectively.

Resting below him is a sunken pond with many small, slate-gray rock islands poking out of the water's surface along with a handful of lily pads. A large mass of rock by the elevator is home to a couple of waterfalls, which probably circulated the water to keep it clear. Behind the reception desk and the receptionists, all pretty young women in white suits, is what looks like a large water droplet hanging from the ceiling.

Lucario crosses the bridge and is quickly greeted by one of the receptionists. "Hello! Welcome to Altamira, name?" the blonde asks.

"Lucario." The pokemon replies. She wasn't surprised at all by this weird creature suddenly walking in, but then again...Regal probably did let his staff know about the smashers. She probably even knew his name already, but was just following normal etiquette.

The woman flips through a couple pages before finding his name and handing him a brass key. "Here you go Lucario, you're in room 2314. Its right out that door," she pauses to point at the door across from the main entrance, "go to the building on the left, up to the third floor, and it should be to the right of the elevator."

"Thank you. Have a good day." Lucario says, somehow getting her to giggle and blush. The pokemon ignores it and follows her directions, easily finding room 2314 near the end of a hallway.

The first element of the room that greets Lucario is the large panoramic window that was the whole back wall and offered a gorgeous view of the ocean; complete with a set of doors on the right that opened to a balcony overlooking the blue expanse. A black curtain can be seen at each end of the window, tied into place with a stunning gold rope. Resting near the left end of the window is the bed, easily big enough for three of him to rest in, coated in dark-purple sheets. Standing up at each corner of the bed is a pillar, all four of which are holding up a soft-black canopy. Tied to the pillars in more of the gold rope are semi-transparent lavender curtains.

The bed and its night-stand companions (one on each side) are resting on a small platform, evidenced by the two steps surrounding that area. Opposite the bed is a wardrobe with a mirror and table for a partner. To the left of the door is another table with three chairs and a loveseat while to the right is another door (probably leading to the bathroom) whose only company is a small waste-basket.

"Well...a little large..." Lucario remarks, shutting the door behind him and walking up to the bed. "Then again, if I'm sharing this room with someone, it probably won't feel as big."

The pokemon sets his bag down on one of the nightstands before putting a hand down onto the sheets; finding them to be just as soft as the ones back at the Smash Mansion. The pokemon sighs before sitting down on the bed, "Its got a beautiful view; I can see the ocean, but not the part of the resort over there...I wouldn't mind living here."

Lucario shuts his eyes before leaning back onto the sheets, sighing again as the soft fabric cradles his body. "Wishful thinking...but wishes never hurt anyone..." he glances out the window and (despite the world now upside-down) sees a bit of orange in the sky. "Hmm, guess the sun's setting. Don't know how I'll spend the rest of the day but-"

Lucario stops when he hears the clicking of the door-knob and lifts his head to see who's coming in. Imagine his surprise when he sees...

"Blaze!" Lucario exclaims, getting the feline to look up.

"Lucario?!"

**

* * *

**

**Just in case you forgot, Staria is the name I thought up for Mario and co.'s homeworld. Also, to clarify for those of you who've played the Tales of Symphonia games, I'm using the map from Dawn of the New World, not the original. Mainly because...well...technically speaking, both games have already happened so thus the planet had its landmasses changed. Also, its easier to have a single world instead of trying to deal with shifting between two...the jury's still out on whether the place is called Sylvarant or Tethe'alla.**

**Oh yea, and Blade isn't an OC. He, along with referenced counterpart Sword, are Meta Knight's...umm...apprentices? Friends? Something like that, but they're actually from the Kirby anime.**


	26. Trouble in Paradise

**Hey there! My most sincere apologies for the three month drought. I don't know where half the time went, and the other half was spent dealing with graduation. (rolls eyes) Yea, I'm outta high school, its still barely an excuse for being so quiet for long.**

**Tell ya what, I'll shut up now so you can enjoy these long overdue chapters. One quick notice though, private thoughts are now in **_'single quoted italics'. _**It just looks a little better.**

* * *

Chapter 26 Trouble in Paradise

"What are you doing here?" Lucario and Blaze simultaneously ask.

"What am I doing here?" They ask, again at the same time.

"This is my room!"

"What?"

"Hold on, you've got room 2314 as well?" Lucario asks.

"Yea. I was told that I might have to share a room with someone, but...I thought it would be another girl!" Blaze exclaims.

"Set down your bag and lets go talk with Regal."

"He's probably still out at the Halberd greeting the rest of us." Blaze replies.

Lucario grunts in frustration, "Alright, lets go wait out front for him. He's bound to get back here sooner or later."

Blaze shrugs and set her suitcase down by the set of chairs before following Lucario out the door. After locking the room they quickly return to the main gates of Altamira, then start waiting.

The two don't have to wait for very long though...although it isn't Regal who approaches them. It almost seems to be a woman, but this bouncing, giggly object wouldn't hold still long enough to tell. Thankfully, not long after the person shows up does Genis walk by and help.

"Raine!" He exclaims, hurrying over, "Stop that! You're going to scare them away!"

The form finally settles down, letting Blaze and Lucario see who exactly it was. It was indeed a woman and she shares the same silvery colored hair as Genis. She has on white boots, baggy gray pants, and a white shirt over which is an orange vest not unlike Colette's, only much larger. Her eyes sparkle in a blue much deeper in shade than Genis and have a wise glint in them despite the still ecstatic expression on her face.

"But...they're just so amazing! Two beings from far beyond the stars! Imagine all the knowledge they've brought with them! All the stories and legends they can share!" Raine exclaims. She wasn't hopping around anymore, but couldn't quite hold still either.

"Yea well...frightening them isn't going to help." Genis remarks.

Raine takes a couple of deep breaths and then blinks, letting her expression pull a one-eighty and go from ecstatic to serious.

"My brother is right, please forgive me, I can-"

"She goes a little nuts whenever there's a chance to learn something." Genis smartly finishes with a big smile on his face, and earns a prompt smack to the back of his head.

"In a way...oh but where are my manners?" She asks, extending a hand, "Raine Sage, a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Blaze." The feline replies, politely shaking the older woman's hand.

"Lucario." The pokemon adds, doing the same.

"Again...I'm sorry about my outburst, its a little embarrassing that that was one of your first glimpses at Sylvarant."

"One person doesn't represent the population as a whole." Lucario replies.

"Oh, so wise. You must know quite a bit Lucario." Raine compliments.

"I'm no genius Ms. Sage-"

"Please, just Raine."

"Raine, but I am quite a bookworm."

"Do you think you both could tell me something about your worlds? So I can be the first to learn something about a completely foreign civilization?"

"Civilization?" Blaze repeats, "Lucario and I are from different planets."

"Two! Oh all the better!"

The two smashers shrug and Lucario gently nudges Blaze; silently saying "Ladies first."

"Well, Mobius does have a floating island." Blaze says, "We call it Angel Island and one of the other smashers actually lives there."

"What kind of technology keeps it up?" Genis asks. "We've got some islands like that here, but they float with tech."

"As far as I can tell, Angel Island is virtually free of technology. I'm pretty sure its the energy of the Master Emerald that keeps it afloat. If you want to know more, you'll have to ask Knuckles; about my height but with deep red fur and big spiked hands."

"Amazing, one jewel that can keep an entire island in the air...what about you Lucario?"

"Well, the humans on my home planet have invented these little spheres called Poke'balls. They can be used to store any pokemon, regardless of size, in a space no bigger than an orange." Lucario replies.

"Seriously?" Raine asks in astonishment. "How can a creature as big as you possibly fit in a space that small?"

Lucario shrugs, "I don't have a clue as to how those things work, all I know is I'm never going to get caught in one. If you want to learn everything there is to know, find Mewtwo. He's about my height, has pale purple skin, and a long dark-purple tail. He sounds kinda cold at first, but he's a pretty nice guy and I'm sure he'd love conversing with another intellectual."

"Thank you both for telling me these things. Its an honor to be the first to learn about your worlds." Raine says with a polite bow. "I'll take your advice and find Mewtwo, I hope he can teach me a lot."

With that, giggly-Raine seems to come out again as she runs off into the hotel. Genis only has enough time to sigh before hurrying after his sister to keep her in check.

"Well I've had to deal with weirder people at the galas." Blaze admits, leaning against the railing of the elevated boardwalk and crossing her arms. "Some of the richest people on Mobius are also the nuttiest."

"Money does strange things to people."

Blaze closes her eyes and nods. About a minute passes before she opens them again, this time because she felt someone take her hand. The feline half expected Lucario to be the one responsible, so it came as a surprise when she saw another native standing in front of her.

This one was an adult man, with long crimson red hair and glowing amber eyes. He wore a pair of black gloves, black shoes, and some baggy white pants as well as a black shirt along with a pink vest. He didn't seem to be that old, maybe in his late twenties...and while his smile was friendly, both Blaze and Lucario could sense that something wasn't quite right with him.

...That became a fact as his gracefully twirled Blaze in place before giving another smile, his eyes never separating from hers. "Ah, such a ravishing beauty from another world..." he compliments.

Lucario gives the man a look that asked 'Is this guy for real?'

"Its a pleasure to meet you, the name is Zelos. Zelos Wilder." He replies, in an almost suggestive tone. "And your name my sweet beauty?"

"Blaze, and stop calling me that." The cat sourly replies, scowling at Zelos.

As if to help, Zelos' head suddenly whips off to one side while a new voice yells, "I'll smack you!"

The two smashers look behind the 'charmer' to find Sheena standing there, fuming at the red-head. "Zelos, I can almost tolerate you hitting on the women on this planet, but do you _have_ to do it to our guests?"

"Aw come on Sheena, I'm just trying to make her feel welcome." Zelos whines, releasing Blaze's hand and taking a step away from the ninja.

"I can't help notice that I seem to be invisible." Lucario adds. "Shouldn't you treat all guests equally? You could've at least said hello."

Zelos glances at the pokemon and stutters a little.

Sheena grunts in frustration, "Zelos, just go hit on the beach bunnies or something."

Without a word, Zelos hurries off onto the beach. He didn't seem too happy to be struck down, but incredibly relieved to get away from Sheena.

Sheena sighs before approaching the two. "Sorry about that, Zelos _can_ be charming, but is a womanizing creep more often than not."

"Its alright, one more line like that and he'd be nursing a burn." Blaze replies, getting the other two to chuckle a little bit.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you." Sheena states, holding a hand out in front of Blaze. "Sheena Fujibayashi, top ninja of Mizuho."

Blaze gently grasps and shakes the ninja's hand. "Blaze, princess of the Sol Kingdom."

Lucario shakes her hand when Blaze is done. "Lucario, wanderer of Pokenoa."

"Thanks for the introductions, but I know who you two are. I'm a fan of the two of you." Sheena replies.

"Same here, you're one of the most useful Assist Trophies in the game." Blaze states.

"I'm an Assist Trophy?" Sheena asks, a blank look on her face.

"You didn't know? I thought Master Hand contacted anyone he made into one of those," Lucario replies, "To let them know."

"I didn't get any message...then again, its been kinda hectic back home so its no surprise that he'd be having trouble." Sheena explains, "I've only seen a handful of you smashers actually battle, but they're still fun to watch."

"What's causing all the trouble?" Blaze asks.

"Eh, moving has always been a pain in the butt. The village has just about settled down, so life should continue as usual."

"You move the village?"

"A village of ninjas has to stay hidden."

"Ah..." the two smashers say, immediately understanding.

"So what about you two? What's a cute couple like you two doing waiting at the entrance when there's an amusement park waiting just down the road?"

Blaze quickly blushes at Sheena's description of them and turns away in a failed attempt to hide it. Lucario blushes a much softer shade than Blaze does, but it manages to hide in the black of his muzzle. "We're actually waiting to speak with Regal about something."

Sheena crosses her arms and sighs, "Oh great...what's wrong?"

"Umm...we've been assigned the same room." Lucario admits, his blush barely darkening.

Sheena turns her attention to Blaze. "And what's so bad about sharing a room with handsome guy like Lucario?"

"N-Nothing...its just kinda weird for me to-"

"For you to what?" asks Regal's voice, getting the three to quickly turn to him in surprise. The big man seems to have appeared out of thin air.

"Regal! These two have a something to ask you about." Sheena eagerly says.

"Really? And what might that be?" he calmly asks.

"Not to sound ungrateful for taking us in, but why did you assign Blaze and I to the same room?" Lucario asks.

"Yea, wouldn't it make more sense to pair me up with one of the other girls?"

"Ah, that's right...I knew there was something I forgot to mention to you. My apologies." Regal says, "You see...there _weren't_ any other women to pair you with."

"Seriously?"

Regal nods. "Peach is with Zelda, Samus with Shiek, Aile with Ashe, Midna with May, Krystal with Rouge, and Kumatora with Jigglypuff," he recites, ticking off each pair on his fingers.

"What about Colette?"

"Colette is staying with her family in Iselia." Regal explains. "I'm terribly sorry, but there just wasn't anyone else to put you with. While we made the lodging arrangements, Master and I discussed long and hard on who to pair up with who. I was warned that Lucario might not get along well with anyone that wasn't a friend of his, but all of his friends were already paired off apart from you."

"Oh..." Blaze replies.

"Not to sound rude or anything, but why is this a problem? Apart from you being a woman and Lucario being a man, Master Hand told me that you two would be great together...his words made it sound as if you both were getting along well at the mansion."

"We were just...curious, that's all." Lucario replies, his blush finally becoming visible, albeit barely.

"Believe me, I truly am sorry that this turned out to be a problem after all; but there's simply no place to move either of you to. If there is any way I could make this up to you both while you stay here, please let me know...you can always reach me through the front desk."

"Hey, maybe you can send them a nice dinner for two, complete with candles." Sheena suggests, giggling to herself as they look in opposite directions.

"No thanks Sheena, but thank you Regal." Lucario says.

"Yea, if we think of something, we'll let you know." Blaze adds.

"It is our goal here at Altamira to provide the best possible stay to all guests." Regal says, pronouncing each word as though he was repeating a motto. "Again, I'm sorry for the trouble, but do hope the rest of your stay is pleasant. Now, if you'll excuse me; I must go attend to some things."

Regal turns on his heel and walks off deeper into Altamira; leaving Lucario and Blaze to round on Sheena.

"What's the big idea, embarrassing us like that?" Blaze sharply asks.

"Oh come on you two, I was only playing." Sheena replies. "Lloyd isn't any fun to mess with ever since he wised up. If it was really that bad, I'm sorry. Know that it was only in jest." She pauses before giving Blaze a playful look, "And come on, as a fellow girl; you know how much fun it is to mess with someone else, huh?"

Blaze slightly glances away.

Sheena sighs, "Alright, how about I make it up to you two. I'll give you two the grand tour of Mizuho tomorrow, after breakfast."

"You can do that?" Lucario asks, "Didn't you just say the village has to stay secret?"

"What's the harm in letting a few people know? All my friends already know right where the village is, some of them even came by and helped with unpacking." Sheena replies, "And as village chieftess, I can bend the rules a little."

"You're the chieftess?" Blaze asks.

"Technically yes, but whenever I'm gone for extended periods, my grandpa takes command for me. He won't mind a couple more visitors; after all, you guys can keep secrets, right?"

Both smashers nod.

"Then there really isn't anything to worry about. I'll be here around ten to get you guys...you don't mind a long hike do ya?"

Both shake their heads. Before Sheena could speak again, a park attendant hurried up to them. "Please excuse me for interrupting, but Mr. Byrant said one of you could help with a problem."

"What is it?" Lucario asks.

"Some strange blue blur is leading the roller coaster down the tracks. Even when the cars are parked, the light seems to leap over the whole train and go on another lap."

Both Lucario and Blaze heavily sigh, drawing curious looks on both Sheena and the attendant. The pokemon and the mobian look at each other. "How did I know Sonic would get into trouble within two minutes?" Blaze rhetorically asks.

"Lucky guess." Lucario replies, not being serious at all. "I'll get him down."

The attendant nods before leading Lucario towards the coaster; leaving Sheena and Blaze behind.

"Do I want to know?" Sheena asks.

"Probably not...lets just say that Sonic adores _showing off_ his speed almost as much as the speed itself." Blaze answers. "Lucario'll get him down, don't worry. So what were you saying? We'd meet around ten?"

"Yea, how about right here, ten o'clock?" Sheena asks. "I can get here earlier if that's better for you."

"Lucario and I are both early risers...maybe nine-thirty?" Blaze suggests, "The sooner in the day we get to your village, the more time we can take."

"True, nine-thirty in front of the hotel. See you two tomorrow." Sheena replies, giving a wave before walking towards the hotel.

"See ya then." Blaze says.

Just as Sheena was about halfway up the steps, she stops and looks back at Blaze. "You know, I was only half-joking before."

"What?"

"That remark about you guys being a cute couple? I can't put my finger on it, but something seems to click between you and him." Sheena explains, "I don't know for sure, but..." she trails off, shaking her head.

"But what?"

"Never mind, I've got a friend that's much better at this than I am." Sheena replies, then gives a wink. "Lets just say I think there's more than an average friendship between you two."

The ninja gives another wave before disappearing into the hotel. Blaze thinks over her words a few times...sure Lucario was a great guy, but they _couldn't_ be much more than friends...could they?

_'No, no, there's no way.' _Blaze thinks to herself, shaking her thoughts away. '_We're of a different species for Chaos' sake. It doesn't matter whether we click or not...nothing can happen between us...'_

Blaze sighs before a loud but gentle chime rings from a tower down the boardwalk. The chime rings a few more times, making sure that everyone within earshot is paying attention. _"Attention all smasher guests,"_ speaks Regal's calm voice, "_I do hope the Altamira resort is to your liking. Just so you all __know, I am holding a banquet to welcome all of you to our planet. It will start in roughly one half-hour, but I still ask that none of you leave the resort until then. Thank you."_ The chimes ring again, signaling the end of the announcement.

"That is rather kind of Regal," says Lucario's voice, getting Blaze to jump and spin around; finding the pokemon a few feet behind her.

She takes a few breaths to calm herself. "Seriously. A bell. Tied around your neck."

Lucario smirks at her before replying. "Sorry."

"No problem, heart's still going." Blaze replies with a small laugh, "So, what'd ya do with Sonic?"

"He's riding the ferris wheel. Sonic won't leave the resort, like Regal asked, but he wants to get a look at the surrounding area." The pokemon answers, walking past Blaze and resting his hands on the railing, looking out at the setting sun. "Just like the sunsets on Pokenoa." he absently mumbles.

Blaze glances at the star as well, watching it throw streaks of red, orange, and purple into the sky and the shimmering, still ocean. It looked as if they were standing at the edge of the world.

"Yea. It also looks the sunsets on Mobius." She adds, "Almost feels like I'm back home."

"Two drastically different places...united under a single sky." Lucario says, seemingly oblivious to Blaze's words. "One entity that is really two..." he shakes his head.

"Lucario?"

He blinks before turning to her, "Yea?"

"You okay? You seem, distracted by something."

"It was nothing, I'm fine."

Blaze gives him an unconvinced stare, "You've seemed out of it ever since we left the mansion. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, just...thinking."

Blaze sighs while resting a hand to her forehead. '_Getting a straight answer from Lucario is about as easy as getting Sonic into water. I can't do anything if he won't cooperate, but...'_ she gives the pokemon a sideways glance while turning back to the sunset. '_That doesn't help. I can't stop worrying about him.'_

Before either notices it, the gentle chimes ring out over Altamira again. _"All smashers, it is now departure time. If you could please gather in the field outside the entrance, we can all leave."_

"Shall we go?" Lucario asks, already turning and walking towards the gates. Blaze nods before following the pokemon, not even blinking as a blue light rushes past.

Resting out in the fields, waiting for the smashers, are some of the oddest machines they've ever seen. They had an elliptical body; two large, metal wings that resembled those of a bat; a long metal tail; and what seemed to be the engine in the bottom.

"What are these?" Bowser growls.

"These are Rheairds," Regal replies, stepping out from behind one. Following him are Sheena, Raine, Genis, and Zelos. "Normally these machines carry a single person, but these are new models designed to transport about dozen passengers each, plus a pilot."

"So how do they move?" Falco asks, looking up at the bizarre machines.

"They fly through the air." Genis replies.

"Yup, the only way to travel." Zelos adds.

"Well, we shouldn't just stand around and talk. There's a dinner waiting for us!" Sheena exclaims, "All aboard!"

Each of the natives, excluding Lloyd and Colette, head to a different Rheaird; obviously being the pilots. Slowly the smashers diffuse out and board the large ships.

Blaze reluctantly climbs onto one of the machines, finding the cabin to be completely open to the air. All that it really consisted of was a shiny wood floor, a small railing encircling the 'cabin', a semicircle of back-less cushions at the back of the platform, and a chair up near the front and just behind the controls.

_'Okay Blaze...just relax,'_ She tells herself, walking up to and claiming one of the middle seats. '_Deep breaths...don't imagine this thing plummeting to the- OH! Why did I think that? We haven't even gotten off the ground yet and already I'm starting to freak! I'm-'_

Her thoughts are cut off when she hears someone ask, "You mind if I sit here?" She looks up and sees Lucario standing there.

"No, go ahead."

The pokemon nods before claiming the seat on her right. "Are you gonna be alright?" he whispers, so the other passengers won't hear.

"I don't know...maybe..." She replies, just as quietly. "This thing doesn't even seat-belts."

"Just try to think about something else. Think about something that keeps you calm."

"I'll try..." she answers. Before Blaze could even do that, she hears Genis' voice say, "Alright, next stop...Meltokio!" and looks to see him in the pilot seat.

Lucario sees her slink down into her seat. '_There's no way she's gonna calm down with a kid at the controls.'_ He thinks, '_Maybe I can help though...'_

Blaze shuts her eyes and tries to tune out the eerie hum of the engines and the occasional creak of the wings as the Rheaird takes flight. '_Come on Blaze, just relax. Think of what calms-'_ Her thought abruptly stops as she feels Lucario's tail snake around her own. At the same time, Blaze suddenly felt a warmth washing over her body...Lucario's aura.

"Does this help?" Lucario whispers, just loud enough to be heard over the wind.

Blaze glances at the pokemon and nods. "Thanks...umm..."

"I don't mind doing this on the return trip," Lucario replies, not the least bit annoyed.

Blaze inwardly sighs at his words before shifting a little and touching her shoulder to his; oblivious to hint of red in her cheeks.

* * *

The feline princess inwardly sighs as the Rheaird sets back down at the outskirts of Altamira. The dinner at Regal's mansion was fabulous, but the return flight kept weighing so heavily on her mind that Blaze almost couldn't eat.

She stretches a little before saying, "Thanks for the dinner Regal. You're a very gracious host."

The blue-haired man at the controls faintly chuckles in delight. "Thank you Blaze. I try."

Blaze smiles at him before following Lucario off the machine.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not tired yet." Sonic says aloud. "You slowpokes are welcome to join me on a jog...if you can keep up." With that, he vanishes in a flash of blue light.

The only smasher who could possibly keep up with him, Shadow, merely disapprovingly grunts at his rival before putting both hands behind his head and walking off into the resort. Like him, the rest of the smashers enter the resort, but only a handful actually go into the hotel. Like Sonic, they weren't tired (after all, they only left the mansion about six hours ago), so they go off to enjoy the night-time attractions of the resort.

Lucario and Blaze are two of the six that head into the hotel, since both agreed during the flight that extra rest would be good for the hike tomorrow. The other four bid them a good-night before heading for the elevator, leaving the pokemon and mobian to head into the garden alone.

"Hey Lucario. Thanks again for keeping me calm on the flights." She says as the walk down the path towards their building.

"Like I said, it isn't a problem."

"Well, I still appreciate it." Blaze replies, leaning over a little and touching their shoulders again.

Lucario doesn't say anything as he walks with her into the building and up in the elevator. They reach their room in about a minute, Lucario unlocking and opening the door for the princess; who enters with a thank-you.

"Need any help unpacking?" Lucario asks, shutting the door while Blaze goes for her suitcase.

"I think I can handle putting my clothes away. Thanks though."

Lucario shrugs while walking past, opening the door to the balcony, and stepping outside.

Blaze pulls her suitcase over to the dresser and goes about moving her clothes; carefully folding any that got messed up on the journey...which (considering Meta's driving habits) was just about all of them. After a tedious five or six minutes, Blaze shuts the last drawer and sighs while tucking her suitcase into the corner. No more avoiding one of the most awkward conversations she'd have.

The mobian princess walks out onto the balcony and looks over the ocean with her room-mate. By now the sun had finished setting and the night-sky was coated in sparkling dots, each looking infinitely smaller than normal beside the tremendous moon.

"Beautiful sky." Blaze comments, trying to start a conversation that would make the chore to come a little easier.

"Yea, although now I'm wondering where in the galaxy we are." Lucario states. "Its always enjoyable to try and find home among the stars."

"But I thought you didn't like Pokenoa."

Lucario shrugs, "Its always a little comforting to know where home is, even if you don't like it."

She nods before taking a deep breath, "As for our current home...well, I finished unpacking." She mentally slaps herself for side-stepping the issue again.

"I guessed as much."

"Yea, wasn't easy. All my clothes got-"

"Blaze, I know you're nervous, but can you just say what's on your mind?" Lucario suddenly asks.

"Oh, uh..." She stutters, then pauses and takes another deep breath. She opens her mouth, but no words come out.

Lucario seems to sigh. "You're thinking about the sleeping arrangements, aren't you?"

Blaze glances away, but still turns red.

"I've already figured them out. You can have the bed, and I'll take the couch." The pokemon says, never moving his eyes from the stars.

Blaze looks at him, then turns to the room to look at the couch. She turns back to Lucario and mentally compares the two. "You sure Lucario? You're going to be pretty cramped."

"I'll be fine. I've slept on worse."

"Then why not take the bed?" Blaze questions, "This is a_ vacation_ Lucario, you're supposed to be comfortable during every minute of it."

"Its fine Blaze, I don't mind."

"I'm not fine with it." She mutters, not realizing she was speaking aloud.

"Why not?" Lucario asks, finally turning to look at Blaze. "There's no awkward tension if we sleep in different places; we'll spend more time resting instead of worrying over the idea that someone of the opposite gender is beside us, under the same sheets."

Blaze bites onto her tongue, but it was a bit too late.

The pokemon pauses, but when he doesn't get a reply, he asks, "Unless there's a reason you _want_ us to sleep in the same bed..."

Blaze looks away, he cornered her now and there was no way out.

"Umm...well..." she stutters again, then finally says, "I just have a really hard time sleeping in new places, that's all."

Lucario's ruby eyes blink while he tilts his head. "I'm not following."

_He can be dense sometimes..._ Blaze thinks before explaining. "Whenever I try sleeping in a new place, and I don't know why, my mind just warps every little sound into the most twisted, frightening thing it can think of. Sometimes I can force myself into calming down, but more often than not; I just lie awake until exhaustion sets in."

She turns away from the pokemon and rests her elbows on the railing and her head in her hands; golden eyes staring sadly out over the sea. "I was hoping that...well, I always seem calmer around you. I was hoping that...maybe...if I slept next to you...I could actually go to sleep." She finishes while her cheeks glow brighter than her flames.

Just as Lucario opens his mouth to answer, Blaze groans before dropping her gaze to the ground. "I'm just pathetic right? A princess who's terrified of heights and new places...I..." She groans again while shaking her head.

Her gaze remains trained on the ground for a few seconds, then she feels Lucario's tail curl around hers, getting her to look up into Lucario's ruby eyes.

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"

"What, my fears? Those-" she stops when Lucario puts a finger over her mouth.

"Not those, that you wanted to sleep together." He clarifies before removing his finger.

"Come on, you don't find it awkward at all for a girl to just walk up to a guy-friend and ask, "Hey can we sleep together tonight?" It just not that easy to ask."

"Even if its not for romance? Not just to get a good-night's sleep?" Blaze tries to look away, but her face is caught by Lucario's paw and gently guided back. "Tell me straight."

"Its not any easier when an embarrassing fear is involved."

Lucario closes his eyes and shakes his head. Blaze's heart immediately falls, believing that he was saying no.

"Blaze, something is only embarrassing when you _let it_ be that way."

"What?" She asks.

"I mean, the only time something is embarrassing is when you _believe_ it to be embarrassing. Here, think of it this way. You've got a fear of new places. You say its embarrassing only because you _assume_ others will think of it that way. Because of that, you lead yourself into thinking that it really _is_ embarrassing, and it becomes difficult to talk about. Finally that, in turn, makes it all the more difficult to find out that others _don't_ think of it that way, which just makes it all the more difficult to overcome."

Blaze looks blankly at him.

Lucario sighs, "What I'm trying to say is that; you need to be a bit more bold. Don't be afraid to talk about something that you think others will call embarrassing, because not everyone will think that way."

He pauses to rest a paw on her shoulder, "I don't think of you as pathetic at all. You've got plenty of amazing things about you; from your pyrokinesis, to your personality, to your eyes. You're not afraid to stand up for someone else or yourself, you always protect what is right, and you're a great friend Blaze. Don't fret over the handful of negatives when you're overflowing with positives."

Blaze starts blushing again, but can't look away from those bottomless ruby eyes. '_Did Lucario just, in a long wordy way, say that he likes me? Like, "likes me" likes me? He did compliment me a lot, and he did it in a charming way...oh no, knock it off now Blaze. He's just being a nice guy, and trying to help me out, that's all...but then, why'd he mention my eyes?'_

"Umm, are my eyes really that special?" she asks, not even realizing her mouth was working on its own.

Lucario seems to hesitate while an invisible amount of blush shows up on the bridge of his nose. He didn't even realize that he mentioned Blaze's eyes until she asked. "Well...yea. I mean, they are...pretty to look at." he flinches, "No, I mean...uh...you see-"

Blaze giggles before putting a finger to his mouth. "Sometimes you just know what to say, sometimes you don't even know what you've said, right?"

Lucario nods.

"Lets just forget I ever asked that question, alright?"

Another nod.

"You gonna do anything but nod?"

Lucario smiles before nodding again, getting Blaze to laugh. "Goof," she says before playfully punching him in the arm.

Once she settles down, Lucario says, "And I don't mind."

"Huh?"

"If you want me to sleep with you, I don't mind."

"Oh!" Blaze says, looking at the pokemon in surprise. "Umm, if its going to keep you from sleeping, you don't-"

"I can sleep just about anywhere. Besides, its not like I can try something with this brute," he stops to gesture at his chest spike, "Or his brothers on my wrists. But, you still have my honest word that I will not do anything to you while we are sleeping."

"I trusted you enough to ask don't I? I know you won't." Blaze says. "Especially because, if you do, you're going to be nursing about a dozen third-degree burns."

"I what?" he asks, looking scared.

Blaze laughs, "I'm kidding."

Lucario smirks, but also heaves a sigh of relief before turning his attention back to the stars. His tone suddenly changes from lighthearted to serious...actually, more like depressed. "Hey Blaze, I can trust you with a secret, right?"

"Of course." she replies, immediately understanding that Lucario was done joking around.

"I was kind of hoping that you'd ask for us to sleep us together."

"Really? Why?"

"I need to remind myself that I'm not alone."

Blaze curiously looks at the pokemon, but lets him continue.

"See...I'm terrified...no petrified at the thought of, one day, waking up to find that there is no-one there. All of my friends are just...not friends anymore, and I'm cast off into pure loneliness."

"Its okay Lucario, we'll always be your friends. Me, Sonic, Falco, and the others; we're never going to just abandon you."

"I know." Lucario distantly replies. "But I still need to remind myself of that...and even then it still petrifies me. Just the thought is enough to-" Lucario's words suddenly stop while he shakes his head.

That went unnoticed by Blaze however...she got distracted by a sudden freezing cold on her tail. It felt like her tail got locked in a freezer set to "Arctic-Blizzard." Then she realizes that it wasn't a cold breeze; the chill was coming from _Lucario's_ tail.

Before she could ask about it, the chill passes and Lucario says. "N-Never mind. Come on, we should be getting to sleep."

He tries to walk inside, but Blaze tightens her grip on his tail and holds him back. "You alright Lucario? That's got to be the second or third time you've zoned out today."

"I'm fine Blaze."

"No, you're not." She sternly says. "Now tell me what's wrong."

Lucario takes a deep breath. "Just a bad memory that keeps haunting me. One that should've faded away years ago..." he replies before jerking his tail free and walking into the room.

Blaze sighs before following him. '_You say I'm a good friend, but how am I supposed to be that way if you won't talk to me? Friends are supposed to help each other, not keep themselves at arm's length.'_

The feline walks up to the dresser and grabs a set of her sleeping outfit before heading into the bathroom to change; ignoring the pokemon as he climbs under the sheets and turns off one of the lights, leaving the side of the bed closest to the window for Blaze.

In a minute the feline returns, her robes draped over one arm and necklace in the other hand. Replacing her normal attire are a pair of light-blue shorts and a magenta short-sleeved shirt that left her naval bare.

Lucario does his best not to stare as Blaze walks around to her side of the bed, tossing her old clothes onto her suitcase along the way. She sits down on her side of the bed and sets her necklace on the night-stand, then slides her hairband off and sets it aside as well. Ignoring her let-down hair, Blaze slips off her gloves last and puts them atop her jewelry before sliding under the sheets as well.

"Good night Lucario." She says, turning off her light.

"Good night Blaze, see you in the morning." replies Lucario's voice from the darkness.

She hears Lucario rustle around a little before they fall into silence. Blaze settles down and tries to tune out everything but the gentle ocean roar...but it isn't working. Even with Lucario nearby she just couldn't calm down long enough to sleep.

In the darkness, she looks over to where Lucario is. '_He's probably fast asleep by now...and I doubt he'd face me with that spike on his chest...maybe he won't mind if I get a little closer,' _she thinks before moving a few inches closer. Then again...and again.

Blaze stops when she feels her cheek fur touch one of Lucario's receptors and can feel his aura rolling over her. Almost immediately her fear is gone, her eyelids grow heavy, and she starts nodding off. Within seconds, the princess is napping contently.

Lucario, however, wasn't even asleep. He wasn't even nodding off. That blasted memory just wouldn't go away...it kept hovering in his mind, tormenting him. He knew that Blaze kept sliding closer, but he didn't argue...that memory kept distracting him.

Once he felt Blaze's fur rest against his own, the interesting happened...the memory seemed to slip away as Lucario's eyelids grew heavy. Just before he fell asleep, the memory gave one final shout before vanishing, spooking Lucario back awake.

He heaves a quiet, deep sigh before glancing over his shoulder. Through aura-sight, he could see Blaze contently sleeping behind him; her aura the purest blue possible.

He shuts his aura-sight and looks away. He could feel sleep starting to overtake him again, but one thought kept fluttering around before he went off...'_Why are you making this so hard?'_


	27. Frustrations

Chapter 27 Frustrations

Blaze's eyes gently flicker open, just before a yawn wrenches free. She rolls onto her back before sitting up, rubbing away a little sleep.

"G'morning Lucario." she mutters before yawning again.

No reply.

"Lucario?" she asks, turning to look at his part of the bed. It was empty.

"Huh...guess he woke up already."

Blaze stretches a little before climbing out, changing into a set of her normal clothes, slipping on her heels and heading out of the room. She exits the hotel through the front doors and finds a small crowd of Sylvaranti gathered around a light-post; at the top of which is Lucario.

He wasn't treed, it actually seemed like he didn't even know the crowd was there. The pokemon was just motionlessly standing atop the pole, his arms crossed, head down, eyes closed. Only his tail and his receptors moved, and that was only due to the wind.

"What is he..." Blaze wonders, "Lucario! What're you doing?"

An eye opens halfway. "Good morning Blaze. I hope you slept well." Lucario replies before springing off the pole, front-flipping in midair, and gracefully landing in front of the princess.

"I slept great, now what were you doing?"

"I woke up a little while ago and was bored. There's no roof to sun myself on, so I chose something else."

"Balancing on a light-post?"

He shrugs. "...I was bored."

She seems to giggle, "Come on, lets get some breakfast."

Lucario nods before following her back inside and up to the second floor, settling down at a small cafe. They relax and enjoy a simple breakfast before heading back outside to wait for Sheena. The crowd has dispersed by now and neither of the smashers are bothered as they wait.

The two enjoy the end of a lovely sunrise; the sky is retaining a faint hue of red and the few clouds that are drifting around have a purple tint to them. A gentle sea breeze blowing up from the beach and gently curling through their fur which gets Lucario and Blaze to relax and sigh in comfort.

"Haven't had a morning this pleasant in years." Lucario remarks. "Or this beautiful."

"My home is in a open area, so I can get sunrises this clear," Blaze replies, "But there's a difference between watching it from a window alone and watching it from a railing with a friend." She stops for a few seconds, "From the window it feels like I'm looking at a picture...but from here...it...its real, can't say more than that."

She smiles before leaning forward and resting both of her elbows on the railing, crossing her forearms. "Sonic's the lucky one, he gets to see stuff like this more than I do."

"I agree. What I would give to be down near the coast more." Lucario remarks.

"So why don't you?"

He sighs, "I said it yesterday; trainers. They seem to adore the coast, so I go anywhere near there and its a guarantee that I'll be attacked. Most of my time is spent in the mountains...in thick forests...generally places where trainers don't go."

"Oh...right. Doesn't that get hard on a person? Having to stay in such a harsh place like a mountainside?"

"You get used to it." Lucario shrugs. "It just gets...irritating, for lack of better terms." The pokemon rests his forearms against the railing and looks down at the wave methodically hitting the wall, then receding.

"Hey, come on. Cheer up." Blaze says, resting a hand onto Lucario's arm. The pokemon turns and looks at her. "We're on vacation; far, far away from all but two of those jerky trainers, and the ones here are going to be so preoccupied with everything new that they'll probably forget you even exist."

She stops while moving her hand from his arm to his paw. "Don't spend your break moping around. Grin and laugh, enjoy it." she adds, giving his paw a gentle squeeze.

He smiles back at the feline.

"Aww...now isn't that just precious?" Asks Sheena voice, getting the two to quickly turn around. The buxom ninja is standing a few feet from them, grinning mischievously. The two smashers quickly blush and take a step apart, getting her to laugh. "Sorry, did I ruin the moment?"

"A little..." Blaze mumbles.

"Well, are you two ready to tour a one-of-a-kind village?" Sheena asks, not hearing the cat's mumbling.

"Sure Sheena, whenever you're ready to go." Lucario replies.

"No time like the present. Come on!" She replies with a wave, leading the two towards the gates of Altamira.

Just as the three reach the gate, they hear, "Hey, hold up!" yelled from behind, and upon turning around they see Falco running up to them.

"Where you guys going?" He asks.

"Sheena's hometown. She's giving us a tour." Blaze replies.

"Think I could tag along?"

"Umm," Lucario grunts, turning to the ninja.

"Can you keep its location secret?" She asks.

"Aw come on, who am I gonna tell? Fox is going to be spending the whole vacation with his girlfriend, and Sonic's off running across the world." Falco replies, "That's actually why I asked, I got nobody to hang with today."

Sheena thinks about it for a second before smiling at the avian. "Eh, one more person couldn't hurt. Can you handle a long hike?"

"Sure I can. I'm a smasher, aren't I?"

"Well then, follow us." The ninja replies, turning and continuing on; her three guests following.

They follow the coast west from the resort for several miles before turning and heading inland, towards a forest. Falco was walking alongside Sheena, asking a little about where they we going, but once content he and Blaze switch places. The group continues on in relative silence, the guys being the only ones to make conversation...or rather, Falco kept asking questions, to which Lucario gave short answers.

"So Blaze, what's it like being a smasher?" Sheena asks, getting the feline to turn to her. "It must get pretty exhausting having to fight all the time."

"We actually don't fight all that much." Blaze admits, "There's maybe six or eight fights a day, and with fifty-something smashers present, sometimes you can go a few days without getting assigned to a Clash."

"Then what do you do all day?"

Blaze shrugs, "Whatever you want really. Train in the gym, swim in the pool, read in the library, take a nap, hang with friends...there's no shortage of choices." She laughs, "At least when the mansion is in working order."

"Speaking of friends, how do you like these two?" Sheena asks, giving a quick nod back at the guys.

"They're great. Falco's a bit of a prankster and loves to mess with people, but he knows where the line is and when to be serious."

"And Lucario?"

"Well, he's a bit tougher..." Blaze admits, putting her hands behind her head. "There's no really good way to describe him. I mean, he's kind but likes to keep to himself. He's quiet, but knows when to speak up. Just when you think you've got him figured out, something happens that makes you rethink your whole definition."

"So he's a mystery?"

"I guess that's one way to say it...there's definitely a lot more to him than meets the eye. Yet...I dunno." she ends while shaking her head.

"You don't know what?" Sheena asks, an eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"Well, a lot of the time, he seems like a happy guy...but every now and then, I get the feeling that he...uh..." She stops trying to think of how to say it., "Hurts is the best word."

"Care to explain?"

"I just get the occasional feeling that something is bothering him...like there's something that's hurting him emotionally, but he won't talk about it." Blaze explains, "It's kinda frustrating. I want to help, but how can I if he won't let me?" she asks, lowering her head.

Sheena gives the princess an empathic smile before putting an arm over her shoulders, getting Blaze to look up at her. "Try not to let it bother you too much, okay?" she gently says, "I speak from experience when I say this; when something from the past keeps haunting you, especially something really traumatic, it isn't easy to talk about it. If there really is something from Lucario's past that is bothering him, and he keeps refusing help, maybe he's just not ready to talk about it yet."

Sheena gives Blaze a friendly smile before continuing, "Just give him a little time. He'll open up when he's ready, and then you can help him heal."

Blaze returns the smile, her spirits starting to lift. "Thanks Sheena."

Sheena stifles a laugh. "Anytime. Who knows? Maybe he'll even give you a thank-you kiss."

Blaze quickly recoils, giving the ninja a push away. "Sheena!" she exclaims, her cheeks turning bright red.

The ninja laughs in victory while Blaze scowls and looks away. Both of them men just look at them with confusion on their faces. "I don't wanna know." Falco says.

After the outburst the group proceeds in relative silence for the remainder of the hike. Finally they come upon the village of Mizuho; marked by a small door-less gateway that stood alone.

There were only about six or seven huts, excluding the ones that looked like they weren't residential. Simple dirt paths connected the huts to one another, several farms were out in the remaining open areas, and a stream that cut through the village was bridged by one or two simple wooden platforms. Any area that was left was soft fresh grass.

A pair of other ninjas were leaning against one of huts, talking and laughing. Several men and women were tending to the fields, and a trio of kids laughed and ran while playing catch. The whole place seemed primitive compared to what the smashers were used to, but not the least bit unappealing. It was actually quite relaxing to look at this small, simple village; with the trickling of a stream accompanying it.

"Here we are, home sweet home." Sheena proudly says, leading her guests into the village.

Almost immediately, everyone stops what they were doing and watches as Sheena leads her smashers down one of the paths, over a bridge, and up to the largest hut. The stares were a little unnerving, but all three of them shrugged it off.

"Here's my house...well...I suppose its my house, my grandfather's house, and the village center." Sheena explains, then walks towards the doorway and waves to her friends. "Come on, grampa doesn't bite."

The pokemon, mobian, and avian follow the ninja into the hut, finding it lit by a skylight and an elderly man studying some scrolls at a table. He had a bit of a beard and aged hair, but somehow exuded a feeling of strength.

"Grampa, my friends are here." Sheena says.

"Hmm?" The old man grunts, looking up. "Oh so they are! Hello all of you!" he says, standing up and smiling at his guests. "Chieftain Igaguri, a pleasure to meet such stars like you!" he exclaims, bowing in greeting.

"Blaze," The cat replies, politely returning his bow.

"Lucario," The canid answers, mimicking Blaze.

"Falco Lombardi," The bird replies, giving him a salute and a small bow.

"It is truly a pleasure to meet all of you, and an honor for my humble village to have you here."

"Aw come on gramps, we're not that special." Falco replies.

Igaguri seems to ignore Falco's nickname. "I do hope my grand-daughter hasn't been causing trouble."

"Well, now that you mention it..." Blaze says, giving Sheena a sly glance.

"Ah, we can talk later. I'd show you around my village, but I must get back to these reports." Igaguri says, bowing at the trio again. "I'll leave it to Sheena to show you around...but I must ask one favor in exchange for the tour."

"Keeping this place secret?" Falco asks.

"Well, _that_...but...if you'd be so kind as to give us a demonstration of what got you selected to be smashers."

"You want to see our powers?" Lucario asks.

The old man nods.

"It can't hurt. Why not?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Blaze adds.

Falco merely shrugs, "I don't have a special power, but I can show you some gunslingin'."

"Wonderful, I will call for you when I finish." Igaguri says, sitting back down at his table. "Sheena, do give our guests a nice tour of Mizuho. Try not to embarrass them...or yourself."

"Grampa! What's that supposed to mean?"

The old man chuckles, "Well, you are a little clumsy...why I still remember that time when-"

"O-KAY! Come on guys!" Sheena urgently says, herding her guests out of the hut. "Daylight's wasting!"

Igaguri watches them leave before chuckling to himself, "She's the best grand-daughter I could've asked for. It helps knowing that the village is in safe hands." He sighs before going back to his scrolls.

* * *

The whole tour only took maybe thirty minutes; but the three guests are enamored with Mizuho's quiet atmosphere. To better enjoy it, Sheena lead them to a grassy patch beside the river to relax on.

"You know, this isn't a futuristic city, but its a nice place." Falco says, reclining in the soft grass. He sighs while the material tickles his feathers. "A whole lot quieter than Corneria, that's for sure."

"Yea, its really peaceful here." Blaze adds. She was sitting nearby, with both legs swept off to one side. "My palace is nice, but it lacks the charm Mizuho has."

Lucario nods, sitting next to the feline and crossing his legs. "I wouldn't mind living here."

"Thanks guys. Its nice hearing that sort of thing from visitors...especially ones that live so far away..." Sheena says. Like the others, she was sitting as well, but had both legs stretched out on the ground and was leaning backwards; propping herself upright with her arms. "It still astounds me that you guys live, well, just around the corner in astronomy terms. I would never have guessed that there was so much life spread out across the stars."

"I said the same thing when I first discovered it." Blaze laughs, "Kinda weird though, to be able to look at a star in the sky and know that someone's probably looking back."

Sheena quietly giggles, "Yea. And before today, I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me that those people looking back...could make such good friends."

"Thanks Sheena, you're a pretty good chick yourself." Falco replies, shutting his eyes and starting to doze off from the sounds of the trickling stream. "Wake me when gramps is ready."

Barely two seconds pass before Falco hears Igaguri call for them, and grumbles some incoherent words while getting up. The four amble over to the elderly man and the ninjas that were accompanying him.

"Well, my work is all done for now. Time for us to see what makes a smasher special!" Igaguri cheers, getting most of the other villagers to yell in excitement.

All cheer is quickly abandoned when loud shrieks of terror come ripping out of the trees to the north, getting the whole village to rush over and see what caused it.

At first, nothing is there; just a dirt clearing that extended for a hundred feet or so, and then the tree-line, then the mountains beyond. That quickly changes as the three children from before quickly burst out of the foliage, followed by what almost looked like a metal suit of armor.

The thing stood roughly ten feet tall, had a large body on stocky legs, and large hammer-heads in place of hands. The head was barely visible over the sheer girth of the body, but was glaring down at the kids with beady white eyes. Its skin was metallic blue and even glinted like actual metal...the only part that wasn't blue was the large bushy red feather atop its head.

"A Mythril Golem?" Sheena exclaims, "Where'd they find one of those?"

"HELP!" The kids yell, running as fast as they could to get away from the surprisingly fast monster.

Then the unlucky turns worse as the kid at the back of the group trips and falls. His two friends don't notice until they rush past the adults.

He whimpers a little while glancing over his shoulder at the huge, angry monster. It makes a clanking noise before pulling back one of its clubs, then hurls it forward.

The kid shuts his eyes, knowing that there was no way he could get away. He even hears some of the other villagers gasp.

Then, a loud thud rings out over the area. The kid opens his eyes and looks to see that he wasn't squashed flat...the attack never even got close. Standing over him was Lucario, holding back the golem's attack with his own hands.

The pokemon glances down at him. "Hurry up and get to safety!" he orders, his voice strained.

The child nods before getting up and running away. Once he was clear, Lucario directs the attack down into the ground while back-flipping away and gives the golem a challenging look. "So, you like picking on kids?" he asks, sounding a little angry, "Well try taking _me _on!"

Most of the inhabitants gasp. They all knew that a Mythril Golem has some of the hardest skin of non-dragon monsters and could attack pretty well too...was this guy serious about taking it on?

"Wait!" One of the ninjas yells.

"You'll get hurt!" Another adds, taking a few steps forward.

Falco grabs his arm and gently holds him back. "Trust me, you guys will want to stand back here. Luca's gonna show his _real_ power in this fight, and its somethin' you'll want some distance from."

The ninja looks back at the avian, notices the serious glare in his eyes, and moves back into the crowd.

"Good choice..."

The golem lets out a roar and charges straight for Lucario, which is easily dodged by a simple jump to the side.

He retaliates by forming and tossing an Aura Sphere, which explodes on contact but seems to anger the golem more than harm it.

The pokemon can only throw two more Aura Spheres before having to dodge again. This time the golem quickly follows and tries slugging the pokemon with a punch, but misses when he leaps high into the air.

Lucario flips in the middle of his jump, lands on his hands and uses his momentum to sort of catapult himself into a run...but this wasn't Extremespeed. Instead of simply rushing around at high-speeds, he starts running laps around the golem. By his third lap, Lucario is moving so fast that he's leaving a ring of after-images in his wake; surrounding the golem with an army of semi-transparent Lucario.

"Go ahead!" He yells, his voice sounding like it was coming from all of the Lucario. "Just try and hit me!"

The golem looks back and forth, not sure of which one to hit. It could hear his footsteps, but they were moving so fast it couldn't tell where they were coming from.

In its confusion, Lucario ends his Double Team, and the fakes consequently, to stop behind the golem and leap into the air. "Tin breath!" he mocks, getting the golem to turn and look up...just in time to take a Force Palm to the face.

Lucario lands in a crouching position while the golem staggers backward. Unfortunately, the creature shakes off the blow and comes charging again; angrier than ever.

Once again, Lucario has to dodge some pretty fast swings of the creature's fists, but is caught off guard when the golem slams one of its clubs into the ground and sends rock fragments everywhere.

The pokemon hisses in pain as the sharp stones cut into him, leaving behind a few dozen cuts on his arms, torso, and legs. He bites his lip to keep curses from coming out and leaps away from another swing.

_'I know its head is its weak-point, but I doubt it will fall for another Double Team...' _Lucario thinks while blasting an Aura Sphere into its chest in a failed attempt at slowing it down. '_And _that_ move is way too dangerous to use with bystanders that close. Guess its still a fist-fight...course, my fists are better...'_

Once again, he dodges a swing of the golem's fist before throwing a punch of his own; a move so fast that it was invisible to everyone, then he lobs another, and another. Lucario's arms seemed to be moving on their own, lashing out at the golem in a frenzied blur; each punch slamming into the goliath's armor with a resounding thud and forcing it backward and away from the village.

He quickly ends the stream of Bullet Punches before leaping backward then rushing at the golem in Extremespeed. Barely three feet from it, Lucario leaps into the air and propels a kick square into the golem's face, bends his knee, then uses the recoil to launch himself into the air.

The golem groans before tumbling over, landing on its back with a loud thud. From here it, as well as the crowd of spectators, can only watch as the pokemon disappears into the glare of the sun. A few seconds pass before a burst of cobalt-blue marks the pokemon's return; a head-first plummet towards terra-firma.

Lucario's aura field seems to grow brighter as he pulls back a fist, then it all seems to vanish as he drives the blow forward; punching the ground about two feet from the golem.

Time seems to stand still for a second when fist meets earth. The whole crowd held their collective breath as Lucario seemed to freeze in place...then a crater about two feet in diameter suddenly collapses into the earth beneath his fist with a dull thud.

Everyone could see the sheer power of his attack as several cracks spread from his crater. A thunderous boom shocks the crowd back to their senses, caused by a huge boulder erupting from the ground beneath the golem and connecting with a sickening groan.

The next thing they see is Lucario collapsing into his crater and the golem flying over the horizon.

The pokemon stands up with just a wince of difficulty and begins panting, looking at the crowd with a victorious smirk. Red streaks were starting to run through his coat from the cuts, and his pounding heart probably wasn't helping there...but at least the golem was gone.

"Way to go, Luca!" Falco cheers, prompting the crowd into the same.

Lucario only nods at his applause. "Thank yo-AH!" he suddenly gasps while bending over, clutching at his chest; his breaths suddenly becoming more ragged. The pokemon manages to crack open an eye while falling to his knees, and can see the crowd beginning to approach.

"No! Stay back!" he yells, almost snarls.

The crowd takes his tone seriously and stops; watching as his aura field re-ignites in a frenzied swirl of blue and red.

He grunts at the pain coursing through his system, and can feel the sheer pressure of his aura pressing in on him. His vision starts to grow blurry as he looks upwards and finds that its clear; not a thing was in sight, not even a cloud.

Lucario's eyes slam shut from the pain, but he still opens his mouth and begins releasing a growl. Through the frenzy of blue and red, the crowd can see an orb of pure, burning yellow forming at the pokemon's mouth and quickly growing.

His yell is immediately drowned out by the deafening boom of his attack as a tremendously bright yellow laser erupts from the orb and soars high into the sky. The sheer brightness of the beam overpowers even Sylvarant's sun as it tears its way into the endless expanse of the sky, illuminating the whole clearing in a bright yellow glow.

Despite having to shield their eyes from it, the whole crowd can feel the intense power emanating from the blast...it seemed to charge the very air with raw energy.

For ten whole seconds, Lucario fires his beam into the sky. His aura field quickly dissipates, seemingly drawn up into the blast, before the beam simply fizzles out of existence.

The pokemon's arms, which had fallen to his sides when he attacked, fall forward and catch him before he falls into the dirt.

Its only a temporary relief though...his arms wobble before sliding away; letting him collapse into the dirt and slip into unconsciousness; only faint gasps and yells ring his ears before everything shuts off.

* * *

Lucario's eyes lazily roll open, but vision remains fuzzy for several seconds. His sight re-focuses to change blue and yellow, lavender and white, and white and black blobs into the faces of Falco, Blaze, and Sheena.

"Ugh..." he groans, "Where am I?"

"My home." Sheena answers. "You blasted the Mythril Golem beyond the horizon, but then launched some weird yellow beam into the sky before collapsing."

Blaze nods, "You've been out for an hour."

Lucario can finally tell that he was lying down and tries to sit up, but is gently pushed back down by Blaze. "Uh-uh, you're still resting." she sternly says. "No way are you fit to start walking around after being out cold for an hour."

Lucario sighs and gives in.

"Mind fillin' us in on what that was?" Falco asks, "I never seen anything quite like it."

"The move I used to beat the Mythril Golem was called Fissure. You strike the ground with such force that it causes it to warp and explode beneath your opponent and cause such extreme damage that its usually a one-hit KO." Lucario explains, "But the move requires a lot of energy to use, so I had to focus my entire aura into it. Because I pushed myself to do so much so fast, my own aura became too charged for me to handle."

"So you had to vent?" Blaze asks.

"Yes. But because I was hurt and tired, I couldn't really move. So I did the only thing I could think of that would release all of that energy at once...an incredibly powerful move called Hyper Beam."

"Hyper Beam?" Sheena repeats, making sure she heard right.

Lucario nods, "One of the most powerful and devastating moves a pokemon can learn...but only the strongest among us can handle it. If I had aimed it at this village...well...the village would be a smoking crater."

The other three gasp.

"Yea, I know. I rarely use it _because_ it is so devastating. However, that power comes at a price...the user can't stop the attack until almost all of his energy is spent. It obliterates everything in its path at the price of exhausting its user."

"And lemme guess, you used it to burn off all your extra aura?" Falco asks, getting a nod from the pokemon.

"I was just so tired after fighting the golem _and_ using Hyper Beam, I collapsed." Lucario finishes, taking a deep breath, "Sorry if I frightened you all."

Sheena shakes her head, "We really should be thanking you. If you didn't jump in when you did, that little kid would've been killed and Mizuho would be ruins." She bows her head to the pokemon, "We're in your debt Lucario. Thank you."

"Seriously, it was nothing." Lucario insists, "As long as everyone is okay."

Blaze and Falco nod. "Not a single hair out of place on anyone," Falco says.

"We even got you bandaged up." Blaze adds, lifting up his arm so he could see the bandages just behind his left wrist spike.

"Thanks."

"Thank them dude." Falco says, nodding at the girls. "They're the ones who were wrappin' ya up while I was on a damage survey."

Sheena waves away his comment, "Least we can do for the guy who saved my home." The ninja smiles down at the pokemon then pats him on the head. "Now you go ahead and rest. We'll help you back to Altamira when you've got the strength to walk."

Even though he felt like he could walk right now, Lucario decides to be safe and take her advice. He nestles his head back into the pillow it was on and closes his eyes.

Sheena breathes a quiet sigh of relief before turning to see Blaze's tail disappearing around the corner. He smile quickly turns to a frown as she stands up. "Hey Falco," she says, "Keep an eye on him okay? I just remembered something..."

Without giving him a chance to reply, Sheena leaves the small enclosed corner where Lucario was and exits her hut.

"Sheena!" Igaguri exclaims, hurrying over to his grand-daughter. "Is he okay?"

She nods, "Yes. Lucario's fine, just tired out. None of the cuts were bad; he just needs to rest."

The old man sighs, "That's good, he really gave me a fright." He looks up to see that Sheena was walking away. "Where are you going?"

"I gotta talk with someone!" Sheena calls back, not even glancing over her shoulder.

Sheena quickly weaves through the village and walks out the north entrance; finding Blaze standing there and looking at the battlefield...just like she guessed.

"You okay?" Sheena asks, walking up to the cat.

"I guess so..." Blaze replies, not moving her eyes from the damage. "I never imagined he could do this...I knew he was powerful, but he seemed so...gentle."

"Don't tell me you're scared of him now."

Blaze shakes her head, "Just trying to recover from this. I knew he was strong...he had to be to place third in the previous tournament...but he always seemed so gentle and quiet that I tricked myself into thinking that he was always that way." She stops to gesture at the craters and warped earth, "But here...I finally saw what he can really do."

"One of those times were he defies everything you thought about him huh?" Sheena asks.

Blaze nods, her golden eyes still fixed on the devastation.

Sheena watches the cat for a few seconds before resting her hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Come on, lets sit down." she gently says and guides Blaze to the boulder. A ledge jutting out from it was large enough for the two to sit on; which they do.

"Blaze, just tell me...what's really going on in your mind?"

She doesn't answer.

"It involves Lucario, doesn't it?"

"...yes."

"Why? He's going to be okay."

"I know he is, but its what happened. After he used Fissure, didn't you see it? His aura field was two colors; cobalt-blue and crimson-red." Blaze explains.

"So?"

"So? A person's aura field changes color to match his or her mood. Cobalt-blue means content happiness while crimson-red means pure rage."

"Don't those two conflict?"

Blaze nods, "Exactly my thought. How can someone be happy and enraged at the same time? You remember when I said that sometimes it feels like something's hurting him? Now I'm positive something is."

Sheena sighs, "Even if it was, I doubt after all this he'd be willing to talk about it. If I did all the stuff he just did; I'd want to sleep for a week."

The ninja expects Blaze to at least smirk at her comment, so when the princess remains silent she becomes concerned. "This is more about just his aura being weird, isn't it?"

"Umm..." Blaze mutters, shifting her gaze a little to the side.

"Just tell me, I can keep it secret."

No reaction.

Sheena sighs, "Okay, I gave you a chance. Verius! You out there?"

Blaze gives Sheena a confused look, wondering if the ninja really did just yell to nobody; then a strange breeze begins to blow through the clearing. The cat's ears pick up the distant tingling of bells before a creature appears before the two women.

A large fox just seemed to appear from nowhere, its body bathed in beautiful golden fur. The tips of its nine tails and its feet are wrapped in snow-white fur and tied around its neck is a ribbon which two small bells are hanging from. Its large brown eyes first look at Blaze, then Sheena.

"Did you need me for something?" It asks, speaking but not moving its mouth.

"Verius, my friend here is having a little difficulty. Would you mind taking a peek into her heart and helping her out?" Sheena asks.

Verius shifts her gaze back to Blaze. "At first glance, I can tell she is confused over a lot of things. Each question that she can't find an answer to seems to be connected to one..." The spirit stops, glancing back over its shoulder at the village. Her brown gaze shifts back to the ninja while her muzzle stays put. "Are you sure that _she_ is the one we should be concerned with?"

"What's wrong Verius?" Sheena asks, standing up.

"I can sense a heart in far more turmoil than her's...something isn't right with this one." Again, Verius stops to take a few steps closer to the village. "This...how in...WAH!" The spirit suddenly screams, flailing around before falling on her side.

"Verius!" Sheena yells, hurrying over to her friend's side. "Verius, are you okay? What happened?"

"I-I'm fine Sheena," The fox obviously lies; she was shivering like crazy. "I just never expected a heart to lash out like that."

"A heart lashing out?" Blaze asks, "I'm no expert, but that doesn't seem right."

"It isn't. Rarely do even the most angry hearts attack like this one did. Nor have I even felt such anger before...it was like a fierce, unbridled rage."

"You wouldn't happen to have seen...happiness there too, would you?"

Verius shakes her head. "No, there was nothing there but that hatred."

_'Guess that rules out Lucario...his aura showed both happiness and anger.'_ Blaze thinks to herself, slightly relieved.

Verius groans a little while getting to her feet. "I do not know why that heart is so troubled, and being the Summon Spirit of Heart I should try to find that out...but something tells me that trying to look inside it again will only make it angrier." She says, "And after that, I would like a little rest. Perhaps I can help you some other time?"

"Its alright, I can find a way through this confusion on my own." Blaze says, shooting Sheena a quick glare.

Verius nods before the strange wind begins to blow again. The distant bell tings again before the fox vanishes, not even leaving a footprint in the dirt.

"So what's the big idea?" Blaze angrily asks, rounding on Sheena. "Getting a friend of yours to try nosing around in my heart?"

"I'm just trying to help." Sheena defends. "And I expected you wouldn't get so agitated...so do you already _know_ what's causing all this confusion?"

"U-umm...well..." Blaze replies, tripping on her tongue.

"You know what, you're right." Sheena says, putting her hands up in surrender. "Its none of my business and I shouldn't just force myself into your private matters. I'm sorry."

"Apology kinda accepted."

Sheena nods at the cat, "Lets just forget about this and get a little rest ourselves."

"Okay." Blaze says, following Sheena back towards the village. She already told herself that Lucario would be okay and she believed that...but at the same time she felt as if this was only the calm before the storm...

...she didn't know how right she was, or how devastating of a storm it would be.

**

* * *

**

Just in case you're unfimilar with the world of Sylvarant; Verius is a creature called a Summon Spirit. Specifically, she is the Summon Spirit of Heart; and is capable of both communing with a person's heart and can look inside to see their true selves.


	28. The Darkest Shadows

**Finally, the revelations chapter. This is one I've been wanting to release for a while...now you'll finally see Lucario. Get ready for a massive bomb drop...**

* * *

Chapter 28 The Darkest Shadows

Blaze shivers a little beneath the covers, a sudden chill rousing her from sleep. One of her golden eyes cracks open and looks around; but can't tell one object from another in the darkness. It was so late that only Altamira's casino remained open, and her room was out of reach of the bright lights.

She groans a little before unconsciously stretching, discovering that she has plenty of room in which to do so...which is strange because she remembers huddling close to Lucario when they went to sleep.

Now curious, Blaze sits up and lights a small fire in the palm of her hand; just enough to illuminate the room like a small candle. Surprisingly, Lucario didn't just shuffle away from Blaze during the night, she was alone in the bed. Alone in the room actually...Lucario just vanished.

At first Blaze just shrugs it off, thinking he got up to use the restroom. Her passivity quickly vanishes when she sees the bathroom door wide open, then feels a cold breeze claw at her exposed midriff and neck. The feline turns to look and finds the balcony door open, but the balcony empty.

"Lucario?" she asks, knowing she won't get a reply. When silence resounds, she climbs out of bed and into her heels, then walks onto the balcony; glancing around to see what was nearby. Even after intensifying her candle, she can barely see the building next door or the foliage down below.

Then again, she didn't need to _see_ to get a clue. Only a few seconds pass before an eerie howl washes over her; a noise that got a frightened shiver to rush down her spine. The noise sounded so ghostly...so dead that it almost got the princess to cower in fear...then she notices something bizarre. As the howl rings in her ears, she notices that _it_ almost sounded frightened...almost sounded lonely and scared.

The feline turns to look in the direction it came from, finding her view blocked by the building behind her. _'Its probably nothing...maybe even the call of some wild critter here...but with Lucario missing, I just can't buy that without checking.'_ she thinks before leaping down from the balcony and quietly going around the building.

Her eyes quickly adjust to the illumination provided by the lamps and casino as she looks around. The howl had already vanished into the night, and shuffling around in the dark messed with her sense of direction, but she quickly guesses that whatever made that noise was down the beach. If it was in the resort boundaries, she'd probably see it. The streets were empty; not even a candy wrapper blew around in the breeze.

She hurries off down the stairway to the beach, then runs off along the loose material into the night; keeping her flame alive to light her way. All around her is dark, save the rapidly shrinking beacon of Altamira. The sky and sea have blended together into a single endless expanse of black; the horizon distorted by the stars' reflection in the water. Even the land was just a mass of blackness, shifting and warping as she moved past rocks and plants.

She doesn't have to wander this inky morass for long, as Blaze quickly comes across her lost friend; laying on his back in the sand and gazing distantly at the stars above.

"Lucario?" she asks.

"Yes?" he replies.

She turns to see the light from Altamira is no brighter than the light from her flame. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

"Just...remembering..." he says, not turning to look at her.

"What?" Blaze asks, although she already knew what Lucario's answer would be. Like she guessed, the pokemon only shook his head. "Why won't you just tell me? Doesn't it hurt to hold it in?"

No reaction.

"Come on Lucario!" she yells, "Can't you just answer me for once?"

The pokemon quietly sits up and turns to look at her. Blaze holds back a gasp of surprise; his expression was the same he'd have anywhere, anytime...but his eyes weren't right. They were still the same ruby red as usual, but deep in his pupils...deep in his eyes...he looked hurt. Like, on the inside, he was writhing in pain.

"You're an orphan, right?" He asks.

Blaze gives him a silent nod.

"Tell me, can you remember your parents' faces?"

"Not really well. My memories of both of them are...well...mostly just made up of the photos of them I've seen." Blaze replies, fighting back the urge to tear up. "I just remember the pictures when I try to think of them."

"Then consider yourself lucky, my burden is much heavier." Lucario answers.

Blaze gives him a weird look before it dawns on her. "Wait...are you telling me that-"

"Yes, I'm an orphan too."

Blaze gasps before giving him a sympathetic look. "I-I'm sorry."

Lucario shakes his head, "It wasn't your fault...but, be glad that you've only got pictures to remind you of your family...I've got actual memories."

"I don't follow."

"I can still see their faces...my father, my mother, my older sister...if I try, even if I don't try; I can see their faces plain as day." Lucario shuts his eyes and violently turns his head away. "But its not just that, I can hear them too! I can still hear their voices! Their laughter! I can almost feel their presence too! It feels almost like they're sitting here with us!"

"Isn't that good though?"

"Good?" Lucario yells, whipping back to Blaze and opening his eyes to reveal the pain again. "You think its good to be tortured like this? To feel as if your loved ones...your family is right here next to you, but know that they are gone forever? I close my eyes, I can see them next to me; but when I open them back up I find nothing!"

He slams a fist into the sand, "These damn memories...No matter what I do, they never leave! They may go away for a day or two, but then they come back! Everyday I have to live thinking that my family is beside me, but knowing that they aren't there and they will never come back!"

"So you just want your only memories of your family to be gone?" Blaze asks in a mix of astonishment and anger. "You just want them to go away forever?"

"Its not like you're thinking." Lucario answers, "I love my family dearly, but can you just imagine it for a minute? Close your eyes and imagine that your father is beside you, hugging you tightly and saying that he's proud of what an amazing daughter you've become. Then you open your eyes and find that he isn't there. Find that he never was there and he never will be again!"

Blaze shuts her mouth and looks away, realizing his point. If she could actually remember her father, she might've wanted to forget him if only to make her heart stop hurting.

"Its too difficult to bear. I love my family dearly, love them more than words could describe...but its torture beyond words to feel them beside you, but know that you're still in an empty world." Lucario says, "I know it sounds shallow, but I wish they would just leave me alone; to just spare me from the pain."

"I suppose...if it really hurts that much, that maybe would be better for them to just fade away." Blaze admits, turning back to the pokemon to find that his head has drooped downward.

"I might actually have been able to bear it all...if I didn't lose them like I did..." His eyes close again, and a few seconds elapse before his fist is re-introduced to the sand.

"I could handle their memories if they weren't murdered!" he angrily shouts.

Blaze gets shocked into silence...murdered? Lucario's family was killed by someone?

"I still remember it so clearly...just four years into my life, my family was taken from me. We were just playing...having fun, minding our own business. Then the forest around us burst into an inferno. My sister scooped me, a Riolu at the time, into her arms and followed my parents through the burning forest.

"We ran and ran. Then a tree fell and pinned my parents to the ground...my sister and I had to continue without them. We crossed a river and she hid me in some bushes, telling me to not come back out until she came back...then she ran back into the inferno to save mom and dad...

"I waited for hours, waited until the sun had begun to set. She never came back out. I never saw her or my parents again."

Blaze reaches a hand towards the pokemon to try and comfort him, but quickly draws back when his aura appears. It wasn't its usual, peaceful blue shade...his aura was crimson red, and Blaze knew from Lucario's own words that crimson red meant sheer anger. After his display of power against the Mythril Golem, which was just two days ago, a part of her was worried about what would happen when he gets mad.

"Then _they_ showed up. Three cackling humans. They were the ones who started the fire, and they were laughing about it! They were laughing that the flames chased out a bunch of rare pokemon that they could sell!" Lucario yells, his voice turning slightly more feral and his aura intensifying.

"How is that fair? My family had never so much as _attacked_ a human, and now they were gone! Lost in a fire all because three lazy-ass slobs didn't want to get a job! I was orphaned because three failures wanted to make a fast buck!" Lucario's aura seems pulsate and swirl, like it was getting agitated.

"It isn't fair...those three..." Lucario snarls a noise so frightening that Blaze actually backs up. "It isn't fair!"

With that Lucario throws his head back and releases a loud, primal roar as his aura field explodes with a force so great it hurls the cat several feet backwards; landing face-down on the beach.

She lifts her face out of the sand and spits out a mouthful of the grainy material, then looks to see Lucario now standing and breathing heavily; his fists tightly clenched.

Before she could say another word, Lucario tosses his head back again; but this time breathes a jet of aura into the sky...the most terrifying thing being his aura had changed to _pure black_. A black so dark it made the night-sky seem to glow.

The pokemon snarls before creating his Shadow Claws and lunging at Blaze; who just barely dodges it with a roll. She gets to her feet in time for Lucario to lunge again, and again Blaze dodges.

"Snap out of it Lucario!" Blaze says.

Lucario growls at her again and opens his eyes, once again spooking Blaze. That harsh pain was gone...all that existed now was a violent, blind rage. Even his eyes had changed; they were now entirely red save a small ring of white to denote where the iris was and a dot of black to show his pupil.

The pokemon reels back before throwing his head forward, breathing a stream of pitch-black aura at the feline. Blaze releases her flames to block the attack, but again has to leap away when Lucario tries to slash at her again.

Lucario's aura finally becomes visible again, and like he has already shown it was a black so dark it almost seemed to absorb the light around him. This only unnerved Blaze even more...something was severely wrong with him, but...the way he used all of this darkness made it seem like he's done it before.

Blaze dodges a few more Shadow Claw attacks and counters with a fireball. Lucario easily side-steps it and quickly rushes around Blaze in a circle; leaving illusions behind himself with Double Team.

The feline starts throwing fireballs into the crowd, but everytime an illusion was destroyed another appeared to take its place. Finally Lucario attacks from behind and this time Blaze doesn't quite dodge completely...his Shadow Claws slash across her left arm and leave three small gashes which quickly began to ooze red.

Blaze winces in pain and clasps a hand over the wounds, looking up to find Lucario standing there; looking at her with hatred in his stare and black aura swirling around him.

"Lucario...stop please...this isn't you..." she whimpers, only to be rewarded with a sharp kick to the chest that sends her a foot backwards and her back into the sand. Blaze lifts her head to find Lucario already at her feet, right hand and claws pulled back...he was going to stab her.

His claws begin rushing towards her, aiming right for the princess' face. With her last breath, Blaze yells out "LUCARIO!" to the heavens before shutting her eyes.

A few seconds pass and Blaze reopens her eyes; finding the claws have stopped an inch short of her nose. Lucario was frozen in place, shivering in...fright? His black aura was gone, his eyes were back to normal, but a look of fear was stuck to his face.

Lucario takes a small gasp before his claws retract and he pulls his hand away. He steps backward a bit before looking into his palms. "No..." he says, "I didn't...I couldn't have...No...no..."

He sinks to his knees and buries his face in his hands, repeating that two letter word in between his gasps.

Blaze shakes away the tears and her fear before crawling over to him. "Lucario?"

No change.

"Lucario, come on look at me." she says, gently resting a hand on his.

He peeks at her from over his fingers, then turns away. "Blaze...I..."

"Ssh, what just happened?"

Lucario doesn't seem to hear her words. "I...I almost killed you...I." he shakes his head, "Sorry can't cut it...not even close."

Blaze bites her lower lip before pulling a hand back and slapping Lucario clean across the face, stopping his mumblings and bringing the pokemon back to reality. "Lucario please, just stop!" She exclaims, a few more tears sneaking out. "What happened to you? You were like...like a completely different person!"

"I'm sorry..." Lucario says, lowering his head.

Blaze grabs his shoulders and violently shakes him. "Just tell me what's going on! Why did you become so violent? Why did you...why did you change?"

_'She deserves an explanation...its the only way to even partially make up for what I tried to do.'_ Lucario thinks before looking back into her worried eyes. "I...I'm a Shadow Pokemon."

"A what?"

"A Shadow Pokemon...a Pokemon that has had its heart sealed shut; cut off from every emotion, except anger. A pokemon designed to harbor a hatred of everything around it and a need to destroy everything it sees...a fighting machine in other words."

Blaze looks at him in disbelief, then she shakes her head. "No...no...S-Stop lying! You're not like that at all! I've seen you have fun! Seen you laugh and hurt! How can you say you've got no emotions when I've seen you with them?"

"Its the truth Blaze." Lucario quietly replies. "Over time, I managed to force the seals open through sheer force of will. I calmed my destructive nature, and managed to regain my emotions...though now they are faint wisps of what they should be. I've learned how to recognize and fake them...in reality, I can't feel happy, embarrassed, sad, any of that. Every smile, frustration, sigh...all lies."

"Then-"

"It was my fault. Thinking about my family made me so angry that it gave the shadows enough power to break free and re-gain control..." Lucario bites his lower lip before yelling, "I'm sorry I never told you before, but who in the galaxy would want to be friends with some destructive monster like me? I tried to keep everyone away, to protect them in case my dark side ever broke free...but I still made friends. I tried to keep them at arm's length, to hold everything in so they wouldn't be hurt...they still got close...

"How could you ever understand what this pain is that burns inside me?" Lucario suddenly yells, "How awful this muted limbo is? To feel happy, yet not get the urge to smile? To feel miserable, but not even be able to shed a tear? Once I felt friendship...once I found people that wanted to be around me...that liked me...even though that lit the tiniest flame of emotion, I didn't want it to go away. For the first time in fourteen years, I found a reason to live! I found warmth in life again! I didn't want to go back to being alone...to go back to the cold dreariness from before, but that meant I was putting others' lives at risk. There's no excuse for that! There is no excuse for putting my own comfort ahead of the someone else's life!"

For the first time, Lucario could finally vent everything that had been bottled away...but that only caused more pain. It hurt to release it all, but the pain couldn't come out in tears...so it remained inside and worsened.

"Go ahead Blaze, hate me! Tell everyone else what sort of monster I am! I don't deserve to be liked, I don't deserve to know people as kind as you...damn it I barely deserve to die in-"

"Shut up!" Blaze yells, cutting him off, "Just shut up! Stop talking about yourself this way!"

Before Lucario could realize it, Blaze had flung herself against him; tightly wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into the crook of his neck, sobbing her eyes out. "I can't just abandon you Lucario! You're not a monster, you're one of the nicest guys I ever met. Why couldn't you have just told us you were in so much pain? Why did you have to keep hiding it?"

"You saw what I was like, what the _real_ me is like. I can't accept my shadow-half, I won't accept being a fighting machine...even if its my true nature." Lucario replies, keeping his arms limply at his sides. "This...gentle me...its just a mask. I keep hiding my shadow-self so I won't do what I tried to do tonight.

"The second the mask slips, the true self emerges. And my true self is a mindless, rage-driven engine of destruction."

"I don't buy it." Blaze says, her voice now calm "_This _is the real you. The gentle man I'm hugging right now is the real Lucario. Your shadow-side...that's the intruder."

"But-"

"No. This was your body first." she sternly says.

"Its not that simple!" he shouts, tearing free of her embrace. Her eyes had turned puffy from the crying, but she looks more confused than anything. "Its not like I can just _wish_ him away! Its not a new force, it is _me_! _I_ got cut off from my emotions. Its _my_ heart that's filled with rage. Its _my_ nature to destroy!

"I'm only staying this way because of sheer willpower...if I didn't have the desire to keep from hurting everyone that I see, I'd be a Shadow Pokemon twenty-four-seven." He stops and falls to his knees, drooping his head like he wants to cry, but no tears fall. "I don't want to be this way, but I can't change it. Like it or not, I'm nothing but a rage-driven bomb that can only smile through will."

He drops to his hands, gasping a little. "Everything you thought you understood about me...everything you thought I was...its only because I lied to you from the moment we met. I lied to you day after day; betraying your trust everytime my mouth opened...I'm sorry..."

"Lucario. Do you remember what I said maybe a week ago?" Blaze asks, getting him to look up. He shakes his head. "I believed that my fire was nothing more than curse. A joke of fate that left me feeling isolated and alone for most of my life._ You_ were the one who got me to see otherwise. _You_ were the one who got me to see what my fire really was; a beautiful gift."

She stops and walks up to him, kneeling down to his level. "_You_ taught me to cherish everything about me. I'm not saying your shadow-half is something to cherish; but the Lucario I know, the Lucario you claim is a lie, taught me that.

"I don't care how often you lied. You're one of my dearest friends and nothing; not light-years, not species, not even you being a Shadow Pokemon, is _ever_ going to change that."

She smiles at the pokemon, looking into his ruby eyes again. "Life is all about second chances, so says a friend of mine. Do I get a second chance?"

"You? I should be the one asking...begging for a second chance."

Blaze shakes her head. "No. I pushed you into doing what you did, I kept prying at things I shouldn't have. Do I get second chance?"

Lucario doesn't answer at first, instead looking at her. Her hair was down and hanging in her face, but her golden eyes never strayed from his. She didn't look contempt or even nervous, just calm and relaxed.

His eyes drift from hers and notice the bloody area on her arm. Lucario inwardly winces when at it; knowing that it was his hands that caused the wound. "Only if I bandage you up." he answers, glancing back at her face, but still hesitant to make eye-contact.

She nods before gently grabbing his paw. "Come on, lets go back to the room."

* * *

A quick sneak around the hotel and a leap to their balcony later, and the two are back in their room; a light on so Lucario can clearly see what he was doing. They had already washed the wound, which removed a lot of the blood in the surrounding fur; revealing that Lucario barely managed to land a hit, they were only half-an-inch long and not deep at all. They only looked so bad because the battle had Blaze's heart pumping which, in turn, hastened the bleeding.

The scratches had already sealed over, but Lucario still insisted on bandaging them; just to make sure they don't re-open; and the pokemon was already working on that, using some of the provided gauze found in the bathroom.

Blaze watches the pokemon gently treat her arm, feeling a nervous tension in the air around them. "I'm still having trouble believing that you can't feel anything at all." she says, hoping a little talk would break the air, "That you're a Shadow Pokemon."

"Well, I am." Lucario replies, not glancing up at her. "Right after I was orphaned, I got sold off to a group calling themselves Team Cypher. After a year of experimentation, I was transformed into a Shadow Pokemon, but managed to escape." He seems to sigh, "Been that way ever since."

"But if a Shadow Pokemon can only feel anger, how are you able to...well, help me?"

"For a while, I did attack everything I saw. But even through my rage-filled eyes, I could see the horrible pain I was causing to others. I was taught from birth that I shouldn't hurt others, so...I guess my sane-half got fed up and took control back. I managed to force the shadows into submission with my will. Its been a delicate balancing act since." Lucario pauses to reach for the tape, but Blaze hands him a piece. "Thanks. If I get too angry or upset, my shadow-half gets enough energy to come back. But at the same time, its always fighting to break my will; so I have to keep my own power in check. I get too strong, it gets too strong and-"

"Same thing?" Blaze finishes.

Lucario nods, "Same thing. They good?" he asks, gently patting the bandages.

Blaze flexes her arm a little and smiles when the bandages neither squeeze too hard or get too loose. "They're great. Thanks."

Lucario sighs before moving away and falling backwards into the pillows. "You shouldn't have needed them in the first place." he replies, "Seriously Blaze, I just _attacked_ you...I tried to _kill_ you! How can you be so calm around me after that?"

Blaze slides over to sit at the pokemon's side. "Because I trust you." she replies, resting a hand on his stomach, "I know that it won't happen again, providing I don't prod you into it. You've kept your dark-half in check for years without it breaking free, right? Stop being so hard on yourself for a small slip-up, nobody's perfect."

"I'm about as far from perfect as one could be." Lucario mopes, only to feel Blaze's hand gently cradle his cheek.

"Not to me." She whispers, looking into his normal ruby eyes.

For a few seconds, Lucario lays there quietly; looking up at the feline. She looked so...un-princess-like, with bandages on her upper left arm, her hair in a messily drooping down all over her head, and a small shirt and shorts instead of elegant robes. Right now she looked like a normal girl, and Lucario also couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was...tiny little smile curling the corners of her mouth, smooth stomach gently inflating and deflating as she breathed, soft lavender fur wrapping any exposed part of her body...she was gorgeous...

...she was a treasure he could never have.

"I know that you'll free yourself from your shadow-side, someday." She adds.

Lucario sighs and gently pushes her hand away. "No Blaze. I won't. If I could've, it would've happened a long time ago. A few days before I escaped, I heard my captors calling me XD-002; a Perfect Shadow Pokemon...one whose heart can never be re-opened."

"I don't believe that. The fact that were here talking proves them wrong. If you really couldn't re-open your heart; if you really couldn't take back your emotions; I'd be a dead cat right now." Blaze says, never flinching at any of the words. "You've freed yourself from complete domination by the shadows, even after they did everything to prevent that. You can talk and think without obeying that urge to destroy...its only a matter of time before you find a way to free yourself completely."

Lucario looks into her steadfast gaze...she seemed so confident...so sure that he'd become normal again, even though she probably knew less about a Shadow Pokemon than he did. He couldn't understand why she was so sure of herself.

"At least one of us thinks that way; I've been in this limbo for so long..." he sighs, doing a perfect imitation of a sad sigh even though he couldn't feel it, "I can't even remember what it was like to feel...well, anything but angry." He pauses to rest a paw on his heart, "It feels like a void in there."

"So...I don't have any effect?" Blaze asks.

"If you do, I can't feel it." Lucario replies, "Don't misunderstand, I still have all of the memories of you, Falco, Sonic, everyone...they're just...they're like films without sound; I can see them, but they don't stir up any emotion."

Just when Blaze is about to say something, Lucario adds, "Its hard, not being able to smile with my friends. To see them reveling in emotion, yet not able to feel a thing. Its a smack in the face every time; proof that I'm alone."

Blaze looks down at the pokemon, feeling as though he could burst into a torrent of tears at any second, but not even hearing a sniffle.

"Again, don't get me wrong, I don't hate you guys for it. Its just rough, that's all...to not even feel liked. I know you all like me, I just can't feel it." He finishes, "You're a great friend Blaze; sticking by me even after learning what I am...thank you."

Blaze smiles at the pokemon and gently rests her hand on his paw, and his heart. "Same to you Lucario. You're a wonderful guy, you know that? I'm sure things will work out, you're too nice for them not too." she gently curls her fingers around his paw. "Lucario...I...even after tonight...well..." she pauses and repeats his advice from a few nights ago in her head. "Well, you still mean a lot to me. I won't give you up for anything, okay?"

"Okay. Its late, lets try and get some sleep...do you still want me to sleep here?"

Blaze nods, then moves away to reach the light...but Lucario can't help noticing that she seemed reluctant to let go; her fingers gently sliding along him as she moved away. He slides under the covers and lies on his back, listening in the dark as Blaze slides under the blanket as well.

Just as Lucario was about to roll over, he feels an arm drape itself over his chest. Then another arm slips beneath his neck and locks its fingers with its sibling. Once again Blaze sidles up against the pokemon, only this time she was facing the pokemon while lying down; close enough for Lucario to feel a girl's chest pressed to his side, and her legs resting against his.

"I'm sorry Lucario," Her voice whispers from the dark, before he feels her head rest to his shoulder and hug tighten up. "I'm sorry for everything you've gone through. I can't possibly hope to understand what is must feel like to have your past...or to be you..."

She faintly gasps, sounding as if she was trying to hold back tears, "You really are lonely aren't you? No matter what happens, how many friends you make...you just can't feel wanted...can't even feel liked. I know this probably won't make it through to your heart...but I'm not going away. I'm never severing our friendship."

Blaze had slipped over Lucario's arm when she approached, and now it gently returns her hug; wrapping itself around her back and paw to hip. "Thank you...and forgive me, I think I lied before."

"How so?"

"When I said I lived with the pain of memories for fourteen years...I believe that today marked the end of year fifteen."

"T-today was your _birthday_?" Blaze asks in astonishment.

"If my sense of time is still accurate...I could be off a day or two."

Blaze quickly runs the numbers over in her head...he was orphaned at four, and four plus fifteen equaled...nineteen. Lucario has been alive for nineteen years, and barely a fifth of it has been happy.

"Oh Lucario, now I'm even more sorry. _No-one_ should have to deal with what you do on their birthday."

"Well, I've taken a lot of crap on my birthdays, so much that I don't even know why I bother keeping track of them...year four I lost my parents. Year five I became a Perfect Shadow Pokemon. Years six to eighteen I can't smile with meaning...and year nineteen-"

Lucario stops upon hearing Blaze shuffle around. It felt as if she was stretching out her body for some reason...which becomes apparent when he feels a pair of lips land on his cheek. Blaze was softly kissing him; giving a butterfly-light kiss to his left cheek.

The pokemon completely freezes upon Blaze's action, unsure of what to do. He never bothered to figure out how to act during intimate events, since he never believed they would happen to him. Yet, here he was with a girl's lips against his cheek. He didn't know what to do, how to respond, or even which emotion to fake.

"Year nineteen; the first present in fifteen long years." Her voice says before she retreats back to his shoulder. "It doesn't even remotely make up for everything you've gone through Lucario, but what guy wouldn't want a girl snuggling up to him for a birthday present?"

In the dark, she hears Lucario snigger a little her joke. It, like every expression he made, was fake; but Blaze still felt a little better hearing him laugh. Even a fake happy was better than moping."Good night Blaze...and thanks." he says.

"Good night Lucario." She says, nuzzling rests her head comfortably between his shoulder and neck. Even as she drifts off and feels like Lucario finally got a birthday worth remembering...she can't help but pout a little...

...because there were three words she wanted to say with all her heart, but didn't since they'd cause more harm than good.

* * *

**Well, there it is...the true Lucario. If you think things are gonna go back to peaceful; think again. There's not going to be much peace for several chapters onward. Again, sorry for being absent for so long; I hope these three chapters make up for it!**


	29. Fragility

Chapter 29 Fragility

Blaze couldn't quite tell where she was; everything around her seemed to defy the laws of reality. The ground is an inky purple color, the sky a never-ending expanse of black, and not an object is in sight anywhere.

Despite the darkness, she could see perfectly; like it was a bright sunny day. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about this world is the chill she was feeling. It didn't feel like a cold breeze or just ambient cold...this was a bitter, biting cold. This felt like she was the last person in the world.

The cat tries wrapping her arms around herself, but it doesn't help. She's about to make a flame when she hears a horrific noise behind her; a wet, throaty, gargle.

She whips around and tries to scream at the sight, but her mouth wouldn't make a noise. Two Lucario are behind her; one in the normal coloration, the other monochrome. The real Lucario is lying on the ground in a pool of crimson, his eyes closed. The other is standing triumphantly over him, Shadow Claws out and eyes pure red.

Blaze backs up a step as the dark Lucario turns to her and takes a step forward. The fiend stares at her for a moment before suddenly rushing forward. Blaze hurls a fireball, but the attack doesn't so much as slow him down.

He reels a hand back before thrusting forward, moving so fast Blaze couldn't dodge. She feels the claws connect and start to sink into her cheek...

* * *

"AHH!" Blaze yells, quickly sitting upright. She starts gasping and rests a hand to the check that Lucario slashed at...not a mark.

"You okay?" Lucario's voice asks, getting her to turn.

After paranoia subsides, Blaze finds herself in their suite. She's sitting on their bed, blankets lying at her feet from her flailing. Lucario is standing by the wall-length window, and was looking back at her. Through the window she can see a light-rain falling.

She sighs, "Yea, I'm okay."

"Nightmare?"

"Yup." Blaze replies, climbing out of bed and walking over to join the pokemon.

Lucario doesn't question further, instead turning back to look at the rain.

Eager to change the subject, Blaze giggles a little before saying, "Didn't even know you got up."

No response.

She tries again, "You know, I always liked the sound of rain patting against a window. Its so relaxing."

"I was in the nightmare, wasn't I?"

"What? No, of course not!" Blaze lies, trying to keep him from getting depressed again. "It was one of those falling nightmares, that's all."

"Then why'd you touch your cheek?"

"Hmm?"

Lucario turns to her, "After you were startled awake, I saw you touch your cheek; like you thought a wound was there."

"Uh..." Blaze turns quiet, silently cursing over him cornering her.

Lucario only sighs before turning back to the rain. "Its alright. I've had those nightmares ever since I regained my sanity. The occasional dream of my shadow-half breaking free and killing innocents." He lowers his head and leans forward, resting his forehead to the glass. "I'm just glad I wake up."

"Aww come on," Blaze says, wrapping an arm around his. "Don't get-"

"I appreciate the concern," Lucario starts, pulling his arm from hers, "but Blaze; don't bother."

"Don't you dare try saying 'I'm not worthy of your concern.' I'm your friend, being concerned over you is part of that."

"I wasn't going to. I don't want you wasting time trying to cheer up someone who can't feel happy."

"Oh, uh..." Blaze quiets down, not knowing what to say.

"So, how're the bandages?"

She looks down at her arm, finding the white fabric still in place. "Just as good as they were last night."

"That's good. Don't know what we can do today with the weather like this."

Blaze 'hmms' an agreement before remembering something from last night. "Lucario? When you were..." she stops, trying to think of a nice way of saying it. No luck. "A-attacking me...it seems like, when I called your name, you snapped back to normal. Any idea why?"

"No. I know next to nothing about how being a Shadow Pokemon works, so your guess would be as good as mine." Lucario replies, then turns around and starts heading for the door. "I'll give you some privacy and save us a table at the cafe. See you there for breakfast."

Just as his hand rests on the doorknob, he hears Blaze suddenly say, "You don't have to worry!"

The pokemon turns back and looks at her in confusion.

"I-I mean...this is obviously something you want to keep secret right?" Blaze rhetorically asks, "Well, I won't tell anyone."

Lucario turns back to the door and opens it, but just as he starts through, he looks back and says; "Thanks." Then his tail disappears around the corner and the door shuts.

The pokemon quietly proceeds down the hallway, the elevator, and out the door into the courtyard; his mind continually assessing what he did last night; revealing what he was to someone else. Now that he thought about it, Blaze really didn't seem to be too repulsed to find him a Shadow Pokemon. Even though Lucario believed Blaze understood little about Shadow Pokemon; he believed the most logical reaction would for her to fear him.

But she didn't. She didn't become afraid; at least, not after he calmed down. Blaze did just the opposite, she tried to make sense of him...she tried to comfort him. She took all the blame for his aggression...she even cried over his condition and kissed him.

Instead of scorning out of fear, she embraced with sympathy.

Lucario stops in the middle of the courtyard and looks up at the sky; ignoring the drops landing in his face. If Blaze still accepted him as a friend, maybe the others would too. Blaze was proof that his prediction was wrong, so maybe his belief that everyone else would suddenly abandon him was wrong. Maybe, as Blaze put it, he needed to give everyone a chance.

_'But how am I supposed to open up? I almost killed Blaze when I opened up to her.'_ Lucario reminds himself, continuing along towards the main building.

He gives himself a quick aura-poof once inside the main hotel to remove the water from his fur, then heads up to the third floor and claims one of the tables near the windows; providing a view of Altamira's main street and the ocean beyond.

His royal company arrives soon enough, and pokemon and mobian place their breakfast orders before turning to the rain.

Blaze is the first to speak up, anxious to break through the weird, tense feeling in the air. "So...sleep well?"

Lucario shrugs, "Well enough I suppose. Something troubling you?"

Blaze doesn't even try thinking up a lie; he's just too good. "You just seem...tense about something, that's all."

"Don't mind me."

"I'm supposed to Lucario! That's what friends do!"

Lucario turns and looks at the rain-smeared window. "I said it already: I don't want you wasting your time trying to cheer up something that can't feel happy."

"So...I'm just supposed to let you mope around?" Blaze asks, "I do that and I'll feel terrible."

"You don't have to listen to me. Go ahead and do whatever makes you the happiest." Lucario replies, still not looking at her.

Blaze turns quiet, not knowing what to say. Lucario had always been difficult to get an answer out of before, now she almost wanted him to go back to side-stepping things. Ever since last night, after he released everything...he's seemed more gloomy.

The feline princess tries to look at things from his view, _'Lucario said he can't feel any emotions, and that it hurts when he sees other people showing them...no matter how well he tries to mask it, it hurts. I've seen past that mask so I know...and that just makes me worry over him. But that only hurts him even more...but if I don't worry over him, then its _my_ heart that starts hurting. Knowing him, Lucario will try to help...then it'll just start all over again...AHH! What am I supposed to do? None of the paths go anywhere!_

_'No matter what...nothing works...maybe that's why he's so depressed. He's already figured that out, so he's just given up.'_

Blaze sighs before looking at him; his handsome red eyes are aimed at the window, but he didn't seem to be looking out there. It was more like he just didn't want to look at her.

_'Why can't you just face me? Stop being a wuss and look at me.'_ Blaze thinks, more hurt than angry. _'I finally got past his wall, only to run headlong into another. Doesn't he understand that I want to help? That I don't mind? All I want if to help him the same way he helped me.'_

Her gaze had fallen to the table, but now she looks back up at her friend. His eyes haven't turned. _'I don't know why, but seeing him this depressed...it hurts me too. I wish I could just hold him, rest my head to his...whisper that everything is okay, and see him smile...'_ Blaze's hands curl into fists, _'But it won't happen...I can't do anything and its infuriating! Even though I want to hold him, I also want to tear the heads off the bastards that did this to him!'_

She takes a deep breath to calm herself, then hears an all-too-familiar voice happily exclaim, "Good morning Lucario! Good morning Blaze!"

"What do you want Peach?" Blaze grunts, even while Lucario returns with a more pleasant greeting.

"Someone's in her normal crabby mood." Peach retorts, "I was just telling you that yesterday Regal got a request from the Tethe'allen king. He wants to meet all the royal guests today; Regal's already got a Rheaird ready for us."

"Forget it, I'm not going." Blaze grunts.

"Blaze, he's one of our hosts! He kindly requested us to meet him, so..."

"I don't care who the hell he is. I'm not going."

"Blaze." Peach says, drawing over a chair and sitting down, "I can tolerate your stubborn nature. I've chosen to ignore your antics during the Smash Gala...but I must insist that you come with us. Now, the Rheaird will be ready to leave around ten so-"

"Dammit Peach, what part of NO do you not get?" Blaze yells, standing up out of her chair. "Who the hell gave you permission to just dictate what we're going to do? I don't give one care about the king's invitation, and nothing you say or do is going to get me to change my mind! In fact...just..." she stops, "Just leave me alone!"

With that Blaze shoves Peach over, chair and all, and runs to the elevator. In a second or two; she's gone.

"What is with her attitude?" Peach asks, getting to her feet. "How anyone can be around a firecracker like that..."

Lucario silently gets up and walks past Peach.

"Where are you going?"

"To make sure my friend is okay." Lucario replies, pressing the button for the elevator and waiting for it. "And by the way Peach, maybe Blaze doesn't even want to be a princess in the first place."

"Not want to be a princess?" Peach asks, speaking as if Lucario just told her she won the lottery.

"I know a few reasons why." Lucario replies, stepping into the elevator and pressing the ground floor button.

He arrives at the lobby and quickly asks where Blaze went. The girl behind the counter points out the front doors, and Blaze can be seen through them; leaning against the railing on her elbows, and head hanging low.

Lucario heads outside and walks up to just behind her. "You alright?"

"Do I seem alright?" Blaze asks, her voice sounding weak. "Just like that pink pain-in-the-ass to ruin my mood." Her tail goes limp. "She reminds me too much of Miguel; always ordering me around, trying to tell me what to do. Being at the mansion and here...I'm free from that. Free from being bossed around, treated like a title instead of a person...its so wonderful and uplifting. But she reminds me of home..." The princess stops. "I've told you what its like, you know."

For a brief second, Lucario hears a faint gasp come from her. The pokemon takes a few steps forward and rests his hand on her shoulder. "I know I haven't been too cooperative recently, but I've always been so ashamed of my shadow-side that I can't talk about it very well. And as much as I trust you, its still difficult. I apologize for being so difficult."

Blaze lifts her head and looks at him, his red eyes finally meeting her gold ones head on. "But...weren't we just talking about-"

"You've never exploded in frustration like that before. I know full well that I'm not being very cooperative and its frustrating for you to deal with." Lucario explains before gently squeezing her shoulder, "I'll try to be less mopey from now on."

Before Blaze could even respond, Lucario's paw moves to her other shoulder and he gently pulls her to his side. "I truly appreciate how devoted you are; no matter how difficult or closed off I get, never forget that."

Blaze's cheeks turn red a little before she nestles her head a little closer. "Do you...want to take a walk? Down the beach?"

"Sure." Lucario answers.

As they walk for the stairway, the rain slows to a light drizzle. The two begin a quiet stroll down the beach, listening only to the gentle crashing of the ocean; Blaze still nuzzled contently against Lucario's side. After a minute or so, Blaze wiggles free of his arm, but gently takes his paw and weaves her fingers with his. "Something you always wanted right? To have your fingers entwined with a girl's?"

"Yea...you really are a great person Blaze...anyone that gets you for a girlfriend is a really lucky guy. I kinda wish it could be me."

Blaze gives him a curious look, then understands what he meant...no emotions meant not being to feel love. "Must be rough...although I am flattered that you'd want me for a girlfriend."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm. You're strong but gentle, kind yet tough...but maybe what I admire the most is how courageous you are." She stops for a second while her fur tints red. "You've willingly isolated yourself all those years, lived without anyone to give any kind of support. It takes a lot of bravery and strength to do that...something that I couldn't handle."

"Thank you. Its nice getting compliments like that."

Blaze seems to giggle, "But what I _like_ the most is how much of a softie you are. I remember when we first met; to be honest, you really scared me. I think anyone would be scared when a tough-looking someone with spikes on his chest and wrist just appears behind you...and then you smiled and lead me to where I needed to go, and I realized how much of big teddy bear you are."

Lucario grunts something while looking away. Blaze knew that he was faking embarrassment, but it still made her laugh.

"Aww come on, you're tougher than this." she teases, "You just don't show it much."

"I'm just glad Falco didn't hear and see this," Lucario replies, "He'd never stop teasing me about it."

"I think everyone would tease you about it. You are kinda fun to mess with."

Before Lucario could reply, a thunderclap echoes above them and the heavens open up. The two spot an overhand on a nearby boulder large enough to cover them and make a break for it; only getting drenched to the bone on the way.

Lucario, without thinking, gives himself another aura-poof; blasting the water out of his fur. Unfortunately, that soaks the already sopping wet cat. "Lucario!" she yells.

"...whoops."

Blaze gives herself a quick shake before igniting a fire in her hand and holding it close to her stomach; letting its heat dry out her clothes. Its a slow process, but its better than shivering while her robe air-dries.

Without a word, Lucario wraps an arm around Blaze and intensifies his aura; helping to keep her warm and dry her off. "Thanks." She says, settling into the warm field with a smile on her face.

"Guess we're stuck here 'till the rain stops. Any ideas to pass the time?"

Blaze shrugs, "We could just, talk. Or sleep." A little while passes in silence. "What's the most beautiful thing you've seen on your travels Lucario?"

The pokemon 'hmms' while trying to recall. "Perhaps one time, a few years ago, when I came across a hidden cove of the ocean. It wasn't that or the waters, it was one large cloud that seemed to be hovering on the ocean's surface a few miles out. The way it was shaped; it almost looked like a ghostly landmass was out there...you could imagine where cliffs, beaches, hills, and valleys were," he describes. "I've never witnessed another 'cloud-island' like that before. Yours?"

"Probably when I saw a shooting star."

"You mean the one in my eyes?"

"No!" Blaze exclaims, glowing red. "Mobius' moon had just started becoming a crescent, and the shooting star rushed across it in such a way that it looked like and arrow shot from a bow." She sighs from the memory, "A celestial arrow...I've got one heck of an imagination."

"Treasure that. It'll come in handy someday." Lucario says. "Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I'll give ya another."

Lucario rolls his eyes. "Why is it that people seek friends?"

"I don't know what you're asking."

"I mean, why do people want friends? Why do people want those kinds of bonds? At some point or another, the friends are going to get ripped from one another whether they like it or not, so why even bother making friends in the first place?" Lucario clarifies.

"You're not just speaking generally, are you?" Blaze asks. "You went a roundabout way, but you meant us, didn't you?"

Lucario stays quiet.

"Well, in Sonic's words; Life just isn't long enough, that's why I'm always running around. Too much to see, too little time!" Blaze repeats, doing a rather good imitation of the blue hedgehog. "What he means is that there's so much to experience in one's life, that you never seem to have enough time for it all. People form friendships as a way to get more out of life. You have fun with people you like, swap experiences, and build unique memories. Even if, say Sonic and I can't see each other anymore for whatever reason, I'll still have the memories we built together.

"Deep down, I think everyone's got a fear of death. Not of what comes after it, but of when it does come that they won't be ready. People make friends and build memories as a way of creating a fulfilling life; one that makes them smile when they look back at it all." Blaze explains, "I know it does, from one view, seem stupid. Becoming close to a bunch of people, and then when they leave you feel only hurt, confused, and upset. It does seem better to just not form those bonds in the first place. But the memories you form and the smiles they bring about are more than worth the pain."

Her fire goes out while she wraps her arms around Lucario's chest, just beneath the spike, and holds him tight. "I know you can't feel any of that, but you've still got those memories with you. It must hurt more than anything I can think of...but just you wait. Once those shadows are gone, all that happiness will come flooding in to take its place; I know it."

"How?"

"Because _my_ heart says so."

Lucario sighs and rests his head against hers. "You're awful confident about something you don't know a lot about."

"You'd be surprised what happens when you stay confident."

"You're a big snuggler aren't you?"

"Only when the other person really needs it."

Lucario lets a tiny smile curl his mouth before wrapping an arm around the regal cat. "You really don't care that I'm a Shadow Pokemon, do you?"

"Not one bit. You're still Lucario."

"You're too nice, you know that?"

"You've earned it," Blaze replies, then flicks at him, " Now shush. The rain's making me sleepy."

Without a word, the pokemon gently lifts her head, leans back, then rests Blaze back against his chest; tucking her cheek up to his spike. " That better?"

Blaze sighs as his much softer chest fur cradles her cheek. " Yea..." is all she says before her eyes drift shut.

Lucario gently runs his paw down her side a few times; further coaxing the cat into sleep. Even though he was starting to relax, with Blaze quietly resting against him and the mesmerizing sound of the rain filling his ears, one part of him just wouldn't quiet down. In the back of Lucario's mind, something kept saying that this wasn't right...that he shouldn't be doing this for her.

_'I hope I'm not making a mistake...and that your trust in me is well-placed,' _is his last thought before his own eyes flutter shut.

* * *

Blaze groans a little while opening her eyes. The rain has stopped, and guessing by the small pockets of sunshine it would stay away. Her golden eyes glance upward to find Lucario still there; her head still resting on his chest. Just as she was about to speak, she sees the pokemon pop something into his mouth.

Confused, she glances down and sees his bag resting in his lap. "When did you get that?" she asks before yawning.

"A little while ago. You're a pretty deep sleeper." Lucario says, with a hint of laughter in his words, "You didn't even bat an ear when I moved you and got up, or when I returned and put your head back."

The princess rubs the sleep from her eyes before replying, "Once we get back to the mansion, I'm going into town, buying a bell, and duct-taping it to your neck."

The pokemon rolls his eyes before reaching into his bag and producing a handful of berries. He offers them to her, smirking when her stomach angrily growls. Blaze mutters a quiet 'thank-you' while accepting them. "We never did eat breakfast, did we?" she asks before tossing one of the fruits into her mouth.

"Nope. By the way, I bumped into Regal while retrieving these. Since we're leaving tomorrow, he's hosting a farewell party on Altamira's beach tonight. Just a chance to spend time with our friends here before we leave." Lucario explains after snacking on another berry, "You know... I'm gonna miss this place. The fresh air, the relaxed atmosphere, the plush room, not to mention all the kind locals. Pokenoa is like the polar opposite of this place."

Blaze's mouth quickly says, "You're welcome to stay at my manor after Clash ends," on its own.

"That's very kind of you Blaze, but Master Hand has a strict policy about each smasher returning to his or her native home-world when the tournament ends." Lucario replies, "He wouldn't allow it."

"Oh..."

"Besides, wouldn't some people object to letting a wanderer live with you?"

"They can shove their opinions where the sun don't shine." Blaze snorts, "Its not their choice to make."

For once, Lucario actually leans against Blaze. "I've said it before, but I really do appreciate you looking out for me."

"I wish I could do more. You've helped me so much, it just doesn't feel like I'm doing enough."

"You're doing a lot more than you realize."

Unknowingly, he gently nuzzles Blaze's cheek.

The two share a few more berries and fall into silence...at least until they hear a whistle.

"Dang Lucario! Didn't know _this_ is what you've been up to all vacation!"

They look and see Sonic standing there, a wicked smirk on his mouth.

"Just wait till everyone hears about this!"

"Blab and I break both your legs!" Lucario roars.

Sonic only laughs, "You gotta catch me first!"

The hedgehog takes off while the pokemon follows in an Extremespeed blur. His shout of "Get back here!" lasts longer than he does.

Blaze can only laugh at the two. She then notices that Lucario's bag took a tumble when its owner went after Sonic, so she starts cleaning up the odds and ends that fell out.

Again, Lucario's journal left the bag, and Blaze can't help but peek at it. By some weird chance, it had opened up to the sinister self-portrait.

"Now I understand what you're about." Blaze hisses at the evil-looking Lucario before turning the page. A few new sketches have appeared since last time, most interestingly one of her. She's simply on a beach, frozen in mid-stride with a happy smile on her face and her hair bent from a breeze. No Lucario, no Sonic, just her.

Blaze smiles at the charming picture before shaking some of the sand out of the book and putting it away. _'That's a real sweet picture, but I kinda wish he was in it too.'_ she thinks, grabbing up the last of his things and putting them away.

She closes the bag and crawls out from under the rock, then hangs the sack from her shoulder and walks back towards Altamira. For a brief instant, feeling the bag thunk against her back every now and then, she imagined herself in the middle of a forest; ambling along with no destination in mind, waiting to stumble across the next amazing thing that nobody's seen...but dragging so much mental baggage with her.

The princess sighs while resting a hand to her heart, _'There's something I'm sure about between you and I...ironically I learned it when I learned about you...but it hurts not being able to tell you it. Still, I'm strong enough to take it.'_

* * *

The hours pass before anyone notices it, and the sun vanishes past the horizon. But now that the stars are reclaiming their territory, the farewell party can start. Its nothing much, just several tables of foods and drinks on the beach with the area illuminated by three or four fires. A handful of Altamira's staff bustle around, whisking empty plates and glasses away and replacing the food and drinks.

Lucario reclines against the stone wall of Altamira, watching the rest of the smashers mingle with one another and the comparatively tiny number of natives. He admires the fires as they cast their flickering lights across all the attendees; tossing weird shadows on the ground that seemed to be just as active as the living people.

The pokemon sighs, a fresh of wave of loneliness creeping over him. He shakes the feeling away before taking a gulp of his fruity punch.

"Ah-ha! There you are!" exclaims a familiar voice, getting him to look.

"Igaguri? Sheena?" he asks, watching the two ninjas approach him and taking note of a small box in Sheena's arms.

"We've been looking for you for a while, its easy to lose someone in a crowd this big." Sheena remarks.

"I've been meaning to give you something as thanks for protecting our village an-" Igaguri stops when the pokemon raises a paw.

"You didn't need to get me anything, its quite alright."

"No, no. I show my gratitude when others earn it and I dare-say that your heroic actions have earned quite a bit." Igaguri counters, before gesturing at Sheena.

The female ninja nods before opening the box and producing some kind of pendent. Hanging from a cloth loop is a large, burnt-red jewel in the shape of an oval and set in the middle of a gold cross.

Before the pokemon could even get a word in, Sheena quickly walks up to him and slips the loop over his head; setting the pendent in place. It looks very nice on him, accenting his eyes and hanging maybe an inch-and-a-half above his chest spike.

"Honestly, this isn't necessary." Lucario insists.

"We insist, its our way of saying thanks." Sheena replies. "That's not just any jewel, that's a Flare Cross. A special item that helps shield the user from intense fires."

"Now turn it over." Igaguri instructs, "Come on."

If only to humor them, Lucario turns the pendent around. On the back are dozens of weird symbols, but they seem to be clustered into small, straight lines. The pokemon looks at the strange markings, then up at the two.

"I guessed that you couldn't read it." Igaguri admits, "But what they say isn't the important part. Those are the signatures of everyone in Mizuho."

Sheena nods, "Everyone wanted to say thanks, so we just had them sign that. All of Mizuho sends their thanks, and are very grateful for what you've done."

The two nod and bow towards the pokemon. Once they stand back up Igaguri finishes the conversation by saying, "Consider yourself an honorary citizen of Mizuho; should you ever find yourself back on this planet, you have a home with us. We all wish you luck in future endeavors."

With that, Sheena and Igaguri vanish back into the crowd, leaving the pokemon to look at his gift. He turns it over to look at the jewel, then back to the names. _'They really consider me...one of them? They even went out of their way to give a simple wanderer like me something so valuable. I don't deserve this...I didn't...I didn't really even do anything, just drive away some cranky monster. Maybe I should just accept it, they did go through the trouble..._

_'...even if they are blind to what I am.'_

The pokemon lets go of the gift, letting it thump against his chest a few times before coming to a rest. He sighs and leans back against the wall, taking a slow drink from his punch.

In the next minute he finishes his glass, hands it over to a waiter, and walks off further down the beach; eventually climbing atop a boulder far from the light of the party. He stares off at the reflection of the moon on the ocean, trying to piece together...well...everything really. Why was he the one burdened like this? Was there some ultimate reason as to why he had to have lost his family? Or to have his emotions taken away?

Or maybe he was just unlucky enough to be picked as the universe's punching bag, someone that fate could smack around whenever it was in a bad mood?

He lifts up his pendent and looks at it again, turning it over a few times. He really didn't feel like he had earned anyone's respect...they said he had, but he didn't feel like it. Not because he didn't emotions, but just...because of how close he got that day...if he couldn't have launched that Hyper Beam attack, it would've been the end of Mizuho; only this time from his hands.

The pokemon tears his gaze from the jewel, then rips it from his neck and tosses it into the sand beside the boulder.

"Dammit, why do I keep getting so depressed?" he asks aloud, "Ever since last night, its been more difficult then usual to put on a fake smile."

He shakes his head and stretches his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his arms and looking into the sky. "I guess just...pouring everything out to Blaze brought it all back to light. I freshly remember how much my life sucks, so its harder to fake smiles..."

He goes quiet for a few minutes, looking up the sky and turning things over in his head.

"There you are," states a voice, getting him to look. That one red-head he and Blaze dealt with on their first day here is standing at the base of the boulder.

"Oh...what's the name? Zelos?"

"Yup." He says, still looking up at the pokemon. "What's wrong man? Why aren't you having fun with the rest of us?"

"Not in the mood."

"Not in the mood?" Zelos exclaims.

"Just not much of party-goer, that's all."

"There's no such thing as someone who doesn't like parties." Zelos counters, "Don't you even want to hang with your friends?"

"No."

"Something must be really wrong with you. Want to talk about it?"

"No." Lucario flatly says, "Besides, aren't you the lady-charmer?"

"I like the ladies, but that doesn't mean I can't talk to my guy-buddies too." Zelos protests, climbing up the boulder and sitting next to the pokemon. "Now come on, what's eating you?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

The man looks at him for a few seconds, then sighs. "Lemme guess, some kind of secret bugging you? Something that would probably shake up your friends?"

The pokemon turns back to the moon.

"Knew it. Look you aren't the first guy in this situation...when I first met my buds, I was hiding the secret that I was plotting to betray them all. By the time I did, they had grown on me so much that I felt awful and saved their lives to try and apologize for it. They forgave me, but I still feel bad for even doing it in the first place."

Zelos pauses before looking up at the moon as well, "Let me ask you something, what's more important? Your friends or some dumb old secret?"

No reply.

_'Stubborn doesn't even begin to describe this guy.'_

"You're kinda dim, aren't you Zelos?" Lucario asks, his voice just the tiniest bit snide.

"'scuse me?"

"Trying to make a connection between me and you? We aren't alike."

"Relax man, I'm just trying to help you leave Sylvarant with smile." Zelos defends, "You don't have to get all snippy."

Lucario didn't even realize he _was_ being rude. The words just started rolling off his tongue on their own.

"Sorry. Just don't stick your nose into others business."

"Now I know something's up. Just spit it out already!"

"No!"

Zelos grunts before taking a deep breath, calming himself. "If its something to do with that lavender cat-"

"It doesn't."

"You could at least let me finish!" Zelos snaps. "Geez, I'm sorry for being rude when we first met, but going off Sheena's words I thought you were a bit more gentlemanly than this!"

Lucario turns away.

"You know what, forget it. If you want to sit out here alone, be my guest." Zelos grunts, hopping down from the rock, "Just think over my words when your friends leave you."

* * *

The crowd of smashers and Sylvaranti are enjoying themselves; having fun swapping heroic tales and personal stories. The party is going better than expected...

...until a yell is heard before something comes falling from the sky, smashing through a refreshment table. Every head turns to look and their eyes see Zelos, laying on his back in the destroyed table and groaning in pain. The worst part are a set of three parallel scratches on his chest.

Shoving her way past everyone, Raine rushes up to his side, kneels down and inspects his wound. She winces at the red ooze around the cuts, but also takes note of something else...

"This doesn't make sense..." She says aloud before channeling healing magic into him. "Regal, do any creatures of darkness live in the surrounding area?"

"No Raine...only water and earth. The occasional light or fire, but never a dark-creature." The tall man replies, "Why?"

"Whatever attacked Zelos not only left these scratches...but it left some kind of sinister energy as well. Its interfering with my artes." Raine answers, still doing her best to heal the stubborn wounds.

Before anyone could ask her to clarify, a harsh wind blows across the party grounds, bringing with it the sound of chiming bells. Verius appears at the edge of the fire-light, hunched down and growling at something in the darkness.

"Verius?" Sheena asks in surprise.

"Sheena, that heart from before. Its back." The kitsune says, not turning to any of the guests. "But worse, it is coming this way."

Several of the smashers draw their weapons and get into a fighting stance, readying themselves for some kind monster to come bursting from the shadows.

Nothing happens for a few seconds, then an orb of darkness comes flying from the shadows and slams into Verius; throwing the spirit several feet backward and wrenching a hurt yelp from her throat.

The fox lands in a heap beside one of the snack tables, drawing everyone's attention. It gets diverted when a black blur suddenly races out of the darkness, rushing by part of the group before disappearing back into the shadows; but leaving behind more of the scratches or either the arms or the chest of its victims.

The ten or so folks yell from the pain and clasp a hand to their wounds, but not one falls to the ground.

"Come out and show yourself!" Mario orders.

A wave or darkness erupts from the shadows, rolling along the ground. It doesn't hit anybody, but does prompt Fox, Falco, and Wolf into drawing their blasters and firing at random into the dark. Even though the shots glow, they don't hit or illuminate anything.

Maybe because whatever was attacking had leapt high into the air and was plummeting towards the group. Shadow, making the most of his reflexes, leaps towards the attacker and kicks it away; causing it to land in the light.

Everyone puts their weapons at the ready, but get stunned when they find Lucario lying there.

"Luca?" Colette asks.

The pokemon groans while getting to his feet, keeping his eyes shut and resting a hand to his head.

"Luca, what's wrong?" Colette asks, taking a few steps toward him.

She freezes when the pokemon snarls in anger and opens his eyes; revealing everything to be red except a white ring to mark the boundary of the iris.

_'He's a Shadow Pokemon, again?' _Blaze frantically thinks, _'What triggered it this time? Zelos doesn't know what buttons to push!'_

"Colette! Move!" She yells, although it was rendered moot as the feline tackles the angel away from Lucario...and just in time to protect her from a Shadow Claw attack.

The pokemon, undeterred, releases several of his dark wave attacks towards the majority of the crowd; forcing them to scatter.

"Lucario!" Shiek yells.

"Snap out of it!" exclaim Ness and Kumatora.

They only get a snarl before he charges at them with Shadow Claws bared. The pokemon swings but is blocked by Meta's Mach Tornado.

Dark claws grind against Galaxia as the little knight spins around and around. The pokemon quickly gives in when Marth and Ike both take a swing at him; forcing him to leap away.

"We don't want to hurt you!" Marth yells.

_'He doesn't give a crap about that.'_ Blaze thinks, watching him drive the swordsmen away with another dark wave. _'What is that pulse thing though? He didn't do it before.'_

Suddenly Lucario's whole body gets shrouded in a black mist, and he goes charging towards the crowd at an incredible speed. Many of the people are lucky enough to leap away, but a few are unfortunate enough to take the dark tackle head on and are soon embedded in the wall.

_'Or that!'_

Lucario snarls before forming a dark Aura Sphere and tossing it towards a young brunette named Marta. Quickly her friend, a blonde male named Emil, slices through the ball with his broadsword.

He cuts through a few more before taking a swing, only for his sword to be blocked by a Shadow Claw and then taking a blow to the gut. The brave swordsman lands in a wheezing pile at Marta's feet, which prompts the brunette into drawing her own weapon, a weird device attached to her wrist that had several blades on it, and leaping at the pokemon.

Lucario bends out of the way, snatches the young girl's wrist and tosses her into a charging Sheena and Rouge. He turns a slices through a fireball tossed by Krystal, and counters with two Aura Spheres, then throws a third that blasts away the Links. C-Falcon was fast enough to land a knee to the pokemon's back, but pays dearly as Lucario (who doesn't even wince) whips around and rakes his Shadow Claws against Falcon's chest, twice.

Knuckles manages to intervene before Falcon could lose his head, and drives the pokemon away. However he and both Kongs get blasted with a dark wave and sent flying. They did their job, however, forcing Lucario into the thick of the crowd.

Even the powerful Lucario gets overwhelmed with so many enemies baring down on him. He inflicts quite a bit of damage on everyone, but ultimately is tossed to the edge of the firelight; bruises and cuts littering his body.

Even so, the pokemon forces himself upright; eyes still completely red and still angrily snarling at the wounded crowd.

"Give up Lucario." Meta orders, "We don't want to have to hurt you anymore than this."

An angry growl is his response. Lucario raises his hands and forms another Aura Sphere, only this one is semi-transparent...normally the orbs are solid.

He quickly tosses the sphere not at the crowd, but up into the sky. The dark orb enters a cloud, a second passes, and suddenly the cloud rumbles before turning dark-purple. Rain begins to fall on the group...only instead of water the cloud seemed to be releasing droplets of darkness.

Immediately the crowd begins to groan. Everytime their body was hit by a drop, it felt as if a small bit of their energy was sapped away. Some started to feel dizzy, others felt queasy, some even held their heads as migraines formed.

Through the ghostly drizzle, they can clearly see that Lucario isn't suffering like they are. Many of them wonder why when Falco suddenly gets it. "We're a bunch of fools! That guy gets stronger the more he's hurt and look how hurt he is now!"

The pokemon's aura appears, pitch black in color, and begins spinning around him in a violent frenzy. Rendered almost completely powerless by the corrupted rain, the crowd can only watch as Lucario's aura grows up towards the sky; forming a giant black tornado.

They hear him roar and release the tornado towards them, and its only thanks to a Psychic attack from Mewtwo that the whirlwind never hits home.

Lucario snarls again before his aura whips into another frenzy. Unlike last time where the whipping aura seemed to stay somewhat parallel; this time its flying every which way.

Mewtwo can only manage a small peek into the pokemon's mind before getting shut out, but that was enough. Even with the rain eating at his strength, he sums up enough psychic strength to force Lucario to look in a different direction...

...and its just in time as the enraged aura tears itself from his body and shoots across the ocean's surface in a blast. The waves of darkness force the waters into a torrent as they go by, eventually colliding with and obliterating the bridge connecting tram-station to mainland.

The powerful attack diverted, Mewtwo collapses into a heap; finally drained by the rain.

Lucario, however, wasn't even close to being done. Now even angrier that his attacks are repelled, he turns back to the group. With a snarl he rears back and...

...freezes when he hears a weak voice say his name. The pokemon can see Blaze, standing between him and the crowd. She was struggling greatly, but is still upright; both arms raised to her sides.

"Lucario...stop...please just stop." She weakly says. "You're hurt on the inside, you've told me. I know that you're beyond angry...that's all you can feel. But what about the kind side of you? Surely you can see that you're attacking your friends...attacking the people who care about you. Fight back! Fight against that angry side of you! You've been winning for so many years, you can win now! Just stop!"

The pokemon doesn't move at first, then snarls and forms a dark-purple orb at his mouth.

Blaze shuts her eyes, as do the whole crowd. Then a sick thud rings out and they look...

...they see Lucario collapsing to the ground, Blaze standing in front of him; her fist surrounded in flames and hovering right where the pokemon's head was. She had knocked him out with one blazing punch to his head.

Lucario lands in the sand, completely unconscious. His eyes shut, but aura reverts from black to its usual cobalt blue. The rain stops and slowly the crowd's strength returns; their wounds don't heal, but at least they can stand again.

Blaze slowly lowers her arm and looks down at her friend...at his slow breathing, his unmoving form...

...she whimpers a little as tears drip from her eyes. "I'm sorry..."

**

* * *

**

Ahh! Cliffhanger! I'm so evil...the next chapter oughta be up soon...hopefully.

**Also an important notice before you hit that review button. I do not appreciate flames. They are not welcome, period. ****Should you be considering flaming this fic, for whatever reason, there's a better option; see the "close" button in the corner? Clicking that will make this fic go away in seconds! Its much faster then writing a flame and makes your life and mine easier!**

**That's not to say I don't want critiques. I enjoy when people point out the errors I've made; it helps me write better in the future. If you notice me making some kind of factual error (other than the one I'm about to say) please tell me!**

**This notice was brought to you because an anonymous reviewer decided to leave a nasty little flame complaining that I'm an idiot (to censor his/her awful language, this is a 'T' rated fic) for writing Shiek and Zelda as two different people. I'm well aware that they are one and the same, however I have decided to split them apart. Get over it, whoever you are.**

**Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! See all of ya next time!**

**Oh, and if you successfully guess three of Lucario's Shadow attacks, I'll answer one question you have about this fic! Just describe the move Lucario did (like the dark tornado or the rain) and then pick a Shadow attack. Good Luck! I'll announce the winners either next chapter or the one after!**


	30. Confusion

**Oy...even after two complete re-writes, this chapter still seems...bleh. Its shorter than most, and just doesn't seem all that great...but since I can't figure out what else I should do with it...oh well.**

**(checks a tally) Looks like its about time for another of these. I do not own Super Smash Bros or any characters or locations that appear in this story; all are copyrighted by their respective owners. All I own is the plot, this version of the mansion, and a few others things too tedious to mention.**

**There, now you can read.**

* * *

Chapter 30 Confusion

_'How long have I been up here? Four hours? Five?'_a certain canine-like pokemon wonders as he stares up at the sky. _'What happened in Altamira...I don't even know. All I can remember is Zelos bothering me, then...I just couldn't stop myself. I wanted desperately to, but I couldn't control myself...I need to get used to this; being alone. Its all I have left.'_

Lucario sighs and blinks, his red eyes aimed at the clouds but looking at nothing. He's lying atop one of the heating ducts atop the Smash Mansion; having returned to the place with everyone else only five days ago.

A lot of things happened between now and his outburst. He was called to Master Hand's office and informed him that he's off the active smasher list; he isn't allowed to participate in Clashes. Master gave his condolences and even admitted that he believed Lucario could keep his Shadow-half under control, but wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

He picked up enough information to know that everyone knew that he was Shadow Pokemon, which (through Master Hand) he learned that Blaze was responsible for. Shortly after he got knocked out, Blaze screamed out everything he told her to the other smashers...so now everyone knew his story.

Most notably, he's isolated himself from everyone. The only time he really comes into contact with the other smashers is during lunch and dinner; during which he claims a table for himself if possible. When not possible, he stays quiet and doesn't make eye-contact with anyone. He doesn't play in the arcade, he doesn't ferret around the library for new reads, he doesn't watch movies...all he could bring himself to do is stare off into space.

At first the others tried getting him to open up, to at least reply. He barely gave more than a nod or a shake. Whenever food wasn't out, a handful of smashers would try finding him. Thanks to his aura-sight, he knew exactly when someone was coming and could quietly leave for somewhere else. A few clever ones tried sending him E-mail or leaving messages under the door to his room. He deleted the E-mail and returned the letters, only reading enough to know who to give them back to.

Its not like he was angry at them or anything, he just didn't want to put them into any trouble. He was dangerous...and after how quietly the shadows possessed him last time, he didn't want to take any chances. As cold as it was, he had to force them away...for their own safety. He knew full well that it only hurt both him and them on the inside...but its better than them getting killed. And his heart was an ocean of pain already, so what's another bucketful or two?

Ever since then...that ocean has flooded his whole system. He hurt considerably, but not in a physical way...it just hurt to _exist_. It hurt to have lied to them for so long. It hurt to have attacked them. It hurt to be apart from them, but also to be around them.

_'I should've known from the start that I couldn't exist here. I never should've come here in the first place...all I do is cause pain wherever I go.'_Lucario thinks to himself. He wanted to cry, he wanted to sob his missing heart out, but he couldn't...that hurt too. _'I still wish I could understand why. Why my fri- the others are so intent on finding me...on getting me to talk, to go back to normal. Don't they realize that this _is_ normal for me? That all that can exist for me is loneliness?'_

_'Do you really believe that?'_ asks a voice in his head.

_'Go away.'_

_'Why?'_

_'I don't need any companions.'_

_'Look at what that attitude has done for you the past week.'_

_'This is how I have to be, to protect everyone else.'_

_'How long are you going to hide behind that excuse? I think you're just afraid.'_

_'I am not.'_

_'Then why hide away? Why move away whenever they come close?'_

_'Look, I know its stupid and I know its mean, but if that's what I have to do to force them away then so be it. Everytime they come close, they're in danger; even more so now since I can't seem to keep a grip on my thoughts. I mean, just look at me right now! I'm arguing with myself!'_

Lucario sighs and shakes his head free from the clutter of thoughts. "I'm not important. Despite what anyone says...I'm just some lying, volatile jerk. I'm probably the only person in the galaxy that wishes he could make himself go away...

"Guess the one problem I can't seem to fix is myself."

_

* * *

_

'How in the name of Chaos could I have done that?'

Blaze thinks to herself, staring out the window with a depressed look on her face. _'I keep trying to tell myself that it was an accident...but I know better than that. I was well aware of every word that wrenched itself out of me. He finally opens up, finally trusts somebody enough to talk to...and I go and stab him in the back. And after I promised I wouldn't!'_

Blaze moans before banging her head against the window. "I've got to be the worst friend."

The feline hears a throat clear behind her and growls; her misery changing to anger in an instant. Just as Lucario has changed from what happened, Blaze has too. To be honest, all of the other smashers changed a little, but soon returned to their normal selves; having processed and gotten over the event. Blaze however, like the pokemon, hasn't changed back...she's been mopey ever since the return to the mansion, but has gotten incredibly volatile at the same time. The day after the smashers returned home, she was sadly looking at her lunch, idly prodding it with her fork and not having much of an appetite...

...then she heard Snake voice his opinion on the whole matter; some snide, rude remark towards Lucario even though he (along with everyone else thanks to her big mouth) knew what the pokemon has been through. Before he could even breathe, Blaze's knee was digging into the middle of his spine. She grabbed his headband and pulled so hard his neck popped, then her incredibly hot hands grabbed the man by the shoulders, jerked him from his seat, and threw him clear across the room and into a wall.

Everyone else (except Lucario, who was absent at the time) just gaped at the princess as she snarled at Snake and formed a fireball in each hand. She wanted to throw them, she wanted to make him hurt...but she couldn't do it. Blaze tears her death-glare from the wounded mercenary, crushes the fireballs into harmless embers, and storms out of the dining room without a word.

People have been nervous around her since. She found it a little comforting, not wanting to talk to anyone...besides, unless they bad-mouthed Lucario she wasn't going to do anything. Every now and then, someone would approach and try to get her to open up; to at least vent. She'd say she was fine and walk away.

"For the last, Chaos-be-damned time Peach. I don't-" Blaze stops after she reels around, finding Aile standing there. "Oh, Aile...S-sorry."

The brunette shrugs. "No harm done. Could you come with me for a sec?"

Its Blaze's turn to shrug as she gets up, but still walks over to the young woman. Aile gently takes the princess' hand and guides her out of the study, up the main stairs, and around to one of the suites. She opens the door and leads her inside, shutting the door behind them.

The normal black-and-white colors are gone, the wall and flooring a deep-space black while the furniture has changed to become a color that was right on the line between purple and blue. Standing inside are Samus and Ashe, both of which smile at the feline as Aile gets her to sit on the bed.

Blaze's golden eyes jump between the three other women. "You three need something?"

"What's got you down?" Samus asks.

Blaze sighs, here she goes again. "Nothing."

"Moping around the mansion isn't you. Now what's wrong?" Samus replies.

"You should know."

"We don't." Samus sternly says. "All of us were shaken up by what Lucario did. I'm still trying to piece some of it together. But all of us have at least started to move past it. Why haven't you?"

"I blurted out everything about him." Blaze finally says, after a minute of silence. "It took him so much courage to finally tell someone else, to trust someone else, and I turn around and betray it. I promised him that I wouldn't tell another soul until he was ready. As if what he did wasn't burden enough on him, now everything he wanted to keep secret, everything he worked so hard to keep hidden is common knowledge."

The blond looks at the princess. "And this has you down?"

"Yes! Samus are you not getting it? I had a friend that trusted me with his deepest secrets and I promised him I would tell...then I go and scream it to the heavens! After everything he had to endure, he thought he found someone he could trust in, found someone he could rely on. Then that someone goes and practically totals his whole life!" Blaze yells, her frustration starting to give way to anger. "And before you even try that 'crap happens, get over it' line; no, I can't just get over it! I ruined everything he struggled to build! How can anyone get over destroying their best friend's whole life? His whole world?"

Blaze's golden eyes are now glaring at Samus, but tears are starting to form. Her shoulders begin to shake, a sign that she's fighting the tears. The memories of that night come rushing back...everyone gathered in the courtyard of the Altamira Hotel to be treated...Lucario carried up to a suite for privacy...the whispers and murmurs of a thousand wild accusations...before she knew it her heart was forcing her throat into screaming everything out...every word she promised to never say. The secret painfully tears itself free...her tears falling like rain...her feet move on their own, carrying her away from everyone in a sobbing blur...

"Blaze!" Ashe yells, giving the princess a rough shake. Once her eyes move the blue-haired teen sighs. "Geez girl, you scared us there. We called your name five times."

The feline groans while resting her hands against her head. "I can't stop thinking about it...about that night. I want to apologize, but I can't find him most of the time, and can barely face him when he is around," Blaze sighs, "As if it would matter, he probably hates me now...and what can an "I'm Sorry" do when the blunder is this bad?"

The golden eyes fall to stare into their owner's lap, only raising once she feels the bed flex underneath her. Samus has sat down across from her and is looking back with a small, understanding smile on her face.

"I don't think that's true Blaze," Samus says, resting her hand atop Blaze's, "To be honest, I think you're the last person in this mansion Lucario would ever hate."

"What makes you say that?"

"He told me so. Before this whole mess happened, do you remember your attempt at the All-Star challenge? On Hard?"

"Yea, I got what...eighty-percent of the way before losing?" Blaze replies.

"More or less, but your distance doesn't matter. I walked into the living room to find Lucario watching. Interested, I started watching as well. After you downed your twentieth enemy, I laughed and joked that any guy would be lucky to get you...as in _un_-lucky to get such a feisty girl. Lucario laughed and remarked that you would be a handful..." Blaze glances away, "But you'd be worth it."

Blaze's eyes snap back to the bounty hunter. "Wh-What?"

"He said that you'd be worth the feistiness. He also said that he was honored just to say he was able to hang out with such an interesting and amazing girl."

The feline stutters something and can feel her cheeks heat up with blush.

"Sounds to me like he likes you," Ashe remarks, smirking a devilish smirk.

"Th-Then why is he avoiding me as well?" Blaze counters.

The other three shrug. "Only Lucario knows the answer to that question," Aile replies. When she notices Blaze's gaze returning to her lap, the brunette rests a hand on her shoulder. "It hurts for that close of a friend to be ignoring you, doesn't it?"

Blaze nods, her shoulders shake, then she suddenly catches Samus in an embrace; hiding her face against the older woman's shoulder. "It hurts like crazy, not being able to help. I want to help him recover, but I can't! I can't even-"

"Shh..." Samus shushes, gently putting her own arms around the crying feline. "If it hurts this much, why didn't you talk to someone before?"

"I felt too guilty about everything. I didn't want to talk about it."

Aile and Ashe join in the hug before Aile speaks. "Everybody does something that they feel guilty about. Sometimes you can get over it on your own, sometimes you need to confide in friends to make it go away."

"You have to learn when you need to switch from one to the other." Ashe adds. "You're with us now, and it probably stings a little, but you'll feel better later. Go ahead and let it out."

Blaze sniffles and swallows before speaking. "I feel angry, guilty, and sad...but...I think I hated myself for it more than anything. I treasure every friend I've got...it makes me feel terrible when I hurt one, and I start hating myself for doing that." Her tears speed up, "Thanks girls...this does hurt, but it feels better letting it out than holding it in."

"We're here when you need us." Samus says. "We probably listen better than the other princesses do anyway."

They hear a muffled laugh and smile a little. After a comforting minute, Blaze pulls herself free and looks at the other women. "If only a hug could fix Lucario's problem," she remarks, "Although I suppose I understand why he's avoiding everyone...its the same as me; he's upset over hurting his friends."

"Only in his case, he can't feel wanted, so he has tough everything out on his own." Samus says.

"Yea...he knows we're there, but instead of our presence helping him; he feels more alone and isolated." Blaze adds.

Ashe growls while clenching a fist. "I'd like to get my hands on the jerks who'd dare do something that cruel to a kid."

"Get in line, I've got first dibs." Blaze says, earning a laugh from the others.

Before another word could be said, the intercoms beeps into life. "_Would all smashers except Lucario report to my office? I have something I would like to discuss with you all._"

The four women look at one another in confusion. What matter could Master possibly want to discuss that excluded Lucario?

Understanding each other's thoughts, they shrug in unison and head out of Samus' room.

* * *

Lucario's eyes shift and he notices storm clouds heading for the mansion. With a faint exhale, he hops down from the duct and walks up to the stairs into the mansion. He gives a quick check of the surrounding area, finds nobody around, and descends the stairs; quickly setting a course for the observatory.

Just as he sets foot onto the carpet of the third floor, Master's voice floats out through the intercom. "_Would Lucario please report to my office? I have something I would like to discuss with you._"

The pokemon shrugs and changes direction, arriving at Master's office in a minute. He pushes open the door and finds the large hand floating behind his desk.

"Needed me for something?" The pokemon asks, walking in and shutting the door behind him.

"Yes, I believe I have news that may interest you. Tell me, have you heard of Professor Krane?"

"Can't say that I have, nor do I want to." Lucario grunts. True, he never did hear of a Professor Krane, but he knew what the Professors on Pokenoa were like. They were just a special variety of trainer; one that chose to study pokemon instead of train them.

"Not even if he can help you?"

Lucario perks up his ears, but is still weary of anything dealing with this Professor. "How?"

"He can remove your Shadow-half."

The pokemon shakes his head. "I'm sure you know already Master Hand, but I'm a Perfect Shadow Pokemon. I can't be cured."

"And us talking without you trying to tear me in half doesn't have any bearing in the matter?"

No response.

Master sighs before continuing. "I know full well that you and trainers have a tense relationship at best, but I have spoken with Professor Krane in detail, and he has helped cure dozens of other Shadow Pokemon. Even another Perfect like you."

Now Master has Lucario's full attention.

"I don't force my guests into doing anything that they don't want to, but I am offering this to you Lucario. If you want, I can send you to Pokenoa to meet with Professor Krane and get help. I'll even give you as much time there as you need. The choice is yours."

Lucario looks down at the flooring and starts turning this opportunity over in his head. Could he really trust Krane? He wanted to be free of the shadows for good, but did he really have to trust a _trainer_to do so? One part of him wanted to take this chance, knowing another would never come along...but another part said don't, Krane could just as easily be lying; being another one of those uncountable trainers who just wanted to capture him.

After a minute of thinking, the pokemon looks back up at the hand. "I'll go."

Master seems to nod. "Very well then, collect your things and meet me in the foyer in ten minutes."

Lucario nods back and heads for the door, but stops just before he opens it. The pokemon looks back over his shoulder and asks, "What made you search for someone who could help me in the first place?"

"I take good care of my guests."

Lucario frowns a little at the glove's cryptic answer, but accepts it and leaves.

After the door clicks shut Master adds; "And I owe all of you in the first place."

* * *

Lucario grunts before shifting his bag to his other shoulder. He looks around the foyer before leaning back against the wall; his tail swishing back and forth and acting as a timepiece. Master should've been here two minutes ago...it wasn't like the giant glove to be late.

"Oh my, my! Terribly sorry!" Master's voice exclaims, as the hand appears in the foyer. "My apologies for making you wait, I got distracted. Well then, are you ready to depart?"

"Yes." Lucario answers, stepping toward the giant hand.

"You haven't forgotten anything, have you?"

"No." How could he forget something? All of his stuff stayed in his bag.

"You positive?"

"Yes." Lucario replies, a little irritated.

"You sure 'bout that?" asks a new voice, getting the pokemon to turn. Almost immediately he looks away; not wanting to look at the several dozen people on the staircase.

"What do all of you want?" he quietly asks.

Falco, who had spoken earlier and was at the head of the crowd, makes a disapproving 'tch' noise. "What do you think we want? We're here for ya."

Before the pokemon could speak, Master decides to explain. "Before I called you to my office, I asked everyone else there. After explaining that you had the possibility to become normal again...they all wanted to see you off."

"Why?" Lucario asks, getting the courage to look towards the crowd albeit their feet. "What have I ever done to earn this?"

"You're kidding right?" Sonic asks, taking a few steps forward. "Dude, what _haven't_ you done for all of us? There's the countless times you've given us an ear when we've been down."

"You're a strong, honest fighter," Link adds. "A knight with no sword."

"You're a pretty selfless guy, willing to chip in and help whenever you can." Pit mentions.

"_You're the only one who can put up a decent fight in chess,"_Mewtwo says.

"You greatly helped to rebuild my ship after the Incident," Meta nods.

"You kept our asses safe while we were trekking through the Great Maze," Snake concedes.

"And you're a wonderful friend," Blaze gives. "Is that enough?"

"But..." the pokemon's breath escapes and he has to draw a new one. "I-I-"

"Don't even give us 'I lied to you all' or 'I'm dangerous,' hun." Rouge interrupts, crossing her arms and giving him an unconvinced glare. "A couple of us are a little ticked that you didn't tell us what was bothering you, but we get that it wasn't easy to talk about."

"So you've taken a lot of garbage during your life, everyone can relate to you in someway or another," Mario admits, "You've been soldiering on before, and I don't think anyone here could've done that if we went through the same as you."

"But..."

"Lucario, I don't think you're understanding something," Master says, getting the pokemon to look at him. "Tell me, where is your family?"

"Dead," Lucario bitterly replies.

"You're wrong and right. Your _real_ family may be gone. But your _adopted_family?" Master chuckles. "Fifty-one of them are standing right over there, one's right in front of you, and the last is...uh, somewhere."

"Adopted family?" Lucario repeats.

"You didn't think everyone here is just another person, do you? All fifty-something of us, we're just like any other family. A bit more dysfunctional than most, sure, but all of us look out for one another. Each of us has formed bonds with others here. You honestly think you could just disappear and nobody would miss you? All of the people standing on that staircase have been concerned for you on some level." Master would've grinned right now if he could. "You're as much a part of this family as everyone else. Its only natural for the rest of your family to want to be there for you when something important is happening."

Lucario's gaze drops back to the floor. "Can I just go now?"

He feels a hand on his shoulder and looks to see Falco, Sonic, Blaze, and Colette standing in front of him...its only now that he notices each one has a small backpack hanging from their shoulders.

"We're coming too, there's no way we'd miss something this important for you." Sonic says, pulling his hand from the pokemon's shoulder and giving him a thumbs-up.

Lucario doesn't verbally reply...just quietly nod.

Master mimics a nod before snapping, causing all five of them to vanish in a flash of light.

The glove floats there for a minute, listening to the thud of footsteps as the crowd disperses, but takes note of one particular set that is approaching him. He turns to find Meta standing there.

"Did you need something?"

"Why?" Meta asks, "You, for all intensive purposes, give food and board to fifty-two people; tolerate all of our quirks; quietly accept and damages done and immediately remedy them; even go out of your way to help us...and ask for almost nothing in return. Why?"

Master quietly laughs, perking up Meta's interest.

"It is a simple question Master Hand."

"That has no need to be answered."

"I demand one."

"I have my reasons."

Before Meta could counter, Master Hand vanishes. The little knight grunts before walking off. _'He can be such a child sometimes.'_

**

* * *

**

Nearly forgot about this! The winners of the review contest! Twilight Gamer got all of his (or her's?) guesses right, but since I'm in a good mood; DetroitLolcat is also a winner. The beams over the ocean are actually Shadow BLAST, not RAVE, but since you two were the only ones who gave it a shot, you both win. I'll answer one question you've got about this fic the best I can, without ruining the rest of the story.

**Sorry Perfect Phantom. You gave three moves, but didn't match them to the battle...but...I'll tell ya what. If you can name three of the six Shadow Pokemon that the final boss in Pokemon XD uses (excluding Shadow Lugia), I'll give you a free question. Also, this little 'guess the moves' contest is now closed. You know the correct answers now, so what's the point in holding it?**


	31. Homeland Part One

Chapter 31 Homeland Part One

As the light from Master's teleportation trick dies away, the five friends are now on a simple dirt path at the edge of the woods. In front of them is a large, metal building that is several stories tall; painted a scientific white. The building is mostly rectangular, save one corner of it that bulges out into a circle of glass walls; glinting in the afternoon sun. To top everything off, a large pokeball sat atop the building; gently floating up and down.

The whole building sits on an elevated platform of ground, contained by a rustic red brick wall. Several pools of water decorated the grounds, enhanced by a small hemisphere of silver metal that the liquid rode down before trickling into the pool. Completing the picture are a half dozen or so people, either lounging in the grass or standing and enjoying a gentle breeze. Next to each person is some kind of creature; probably a pokemon.

Sonic whistles in admiration at the fancy building. "Tails would faint if he had a place like this to play in."

They take a few seconds to admire the large building before they notice that one of the humans has approached them. He's a middle-aged man, wearing a lime-green polo shirt, tan jeans, a brown belt and shoes, and a white lab coat. His poofy chocolate brown hair bounces with each step he took and his almond brown eyes seemed to shine behind his rectangle-lensed glasses.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all, I'm Professor Krane," he says, extending a hand. "Head of this laboratory."

All five smashers shake the professor's hand, but Lucario seemed to be reluctant to make eye-contact.

"So, we hear you can help our bud. It true?" Falco asks.

"I do believe so, but out here isn't the place to talk. Follow me, there's a meeting room we can use," Krane replies, turning and heading up the stairs. The smashers follow him up and finally get the attention of the trainers...

All dozen of them turn and look, but don't seem to approach. Despite the lack of movement, the non-pokemon smashers take note of how all their eyes seem to lock onto Lucario. All the gazes carry looks of envy...and it started to become unnerving.

Thankfully the eerie feeling goes away when the professor leads them inside. They head around the receptionist's desk, down a hallway, and gather in a glass cylinder. Krane presses a button, a door slides closed, then the ground lifts upward with a muted 'whoosh.'

The elevator stops on the second floor and Krane leads them down another hallway then into a room. Simple enough place, a table sat in the middle bordered on all sides by plush couches. A few bookshelves stood on the walls and two or three rolling-chairs sat scattered about.

"Please, please, take a seat," Krane says before plopping backwards into one of the chairs. The five guests disperse into the couches, after which Krane starts speaking again. "We can just skip the introduction, Master Hand has already told me all about you Lucario. I must say, you are quite the interesting case."

"What makes you say that?" Sonic asks.

"Well...all the previous cases of Shadow Pokemon have been cured because they were with a trainer. Imagine the shadows inside of your friend as a sort of seal; restricting every emotion but anger. As a Shadow Pokemon spends time with its trainer, a bond a trust begins to build between them. This trust is what erodes the seal, eventually to the point where it can be completely destroyed. I always believed this was the only way to undo a Shadow Pokemon's misfortune," Krane stops to spin and look at the pokemon, "But you've managed to fight the shadows back on your own...I didn't believe that was possible."

"There's lots that a pokemon can do without a trainer," Lucario sourly replies.

"Then why exactly did his Shadow-half return?" Colette asks, "If he's strong enough to resist it, why does it come back?"

"As I said, Shadow Pokemon can only feel anger. The angrier they get, the stronger that dark portion of them becomes. For Lucario...I assume that when he's calm the Shadow's don't have much power, but once he gets angry they return."

"Then explain why I fell back when I wasn't angry."

Krane 'hmms' to himself before spinning in his chair, probably thinking of how to word his answer. "Emotions are tricky things. Rarely does one emotion happen without invoking others. Any number of other thoughts or feelings could've induced enough anger to trigger your Shadow-side. Guilt, for example, often makes one angry at himself."

The pokemon leans back into his seat.

"Okay, that's enough explaining doc," Falco says, "So can you heal Luca or not?"

"I could, with his permission. There is a machine here called the Purification Chamber; it destroyed the shadows within the other Perfect Shadow Pokemon: XD-001...or Shadow Lugia to be a bit more precise. Its heart was sealed tighter than Lucario's, so the Chamber ought to work on him as well...there's just one little hitch..."

"What's that?" Lucario asks.

Krane doesn't answer at first, instead he fishes something out of his pocket. He holds a pokeball out in his hand. "I'll need to capture you."

"Say what?" Lucario roars.

Krane winces, but is still able to calmly reply. "When designed, we never thought we'd come across a _wild_ Shadow Pokemon...so we built it in such a way that it can only use captured pokemon. It would take months, perhaps years to redesign and rebuild the chamber; time we just don't have. With your permission, I'll capture you, purify you, then release you."

Lucario glances away to a vacant corner of the room. "No. I won't be caught, even temporarily."

"Luca!" Falco yells in surprise, "You sure?"

"Seriously dude, think about this." Sonic adds.

"I have. Its nothing against you personally Krane, but I cannot trust trainers. Not after everything that's happened," Lucario replies.

Krane sighs before returning the ball to his pocket. "To be honest, I expected that answer. Master did tell me a lot about you, and I can understand your reluctance."

"So that's it?" Blaze asks, "Time to go home?"

"Well, I've got another idea that could heal Lucario, but its not quite as concrete as the Purification Chamber...I'll need to get one of my inventions, please excuse me for a second." Krane rolls his chair over to the door before getting up and leaving.

"Luca?" Colette softly asks, "Are you absolutely sure you won't trust Krane?"

"Positive." Lucario replies, "Would you trust the class of people that have made your life a living hell?"

"You do realize we're not going anywhere until you're cured, right?" Sonic asks, "If Krane was planning something and tried keeping you, the five of us would be ready to beat him down."

Lucario shakes his head, "It wouldn't do any good. The humans of this world have developed the technology to transport pokeballs, and the pokemon inside them, hundreds if not thousands of miles in a second. And even if you were to take the pokeball from him; only that pokemon's owner could release the pokemon inside."

The others quiet down, realizing that he wasn't going to change his mind. Krane returns a minute after that, now sporting a headband with some small device attached to it.

He sits back down on the chair and swivels to look at the pokemon. "This device is called the Aura Reader; I designed it to analyze a Shadow Pokemon and display its information, which includes how weak the seal on its heart is," Krane explains, "Just turn it on and..."

The professor flips a tiny switch on the side of the device, causing a beep to ring out and a screen to slide out of it. The small display extends around the side of the professor's head, stopping in front of his left eye. Text begins to write itself onto the display; but from the point-of-view of the smashers the words are both too small and backwards, making them illegible.

"Hmm...Well you definitely take good care of yourself...all of your stats are quite high. Approximately level 90, quite impressive for your age...that's strange..."

"What?" Sonic asks.

"Well, to make it easy to understand, the Aura Reader generalizes the strength of a Shadow Pokemon's seal into a bar; the stronger the seal the more the bar is full. For whatever reason, this device can't get any reading at all on your seal. It was full...now empty...now halfway...full, one-third, ninety-percent, empty, full..." Krane sighs while turning the device off. "This definitely complicates things..."

"Mind cluing us in?"

Krane sighs before spinning around in his chair. "The first time Shadow Pokemon surfaced, this lab wasn't here. The heroes of then, a duo named Wes and Rui, used a different method of purifying the Shadow Pokemon they found. Resting in Agate Village is a large rock called the Relic Stone. This stone constantly radiates a pure, cleansing, restoring energy; and Wes and Rui were able to use that to destroy the shadows within the pokemon they found.

"This method works just the same as the Purification Chamber here, but has one large drawback...unlike our chamber, which will purify any Shadow Pokemon when given enough time, the Relic Stone's energy works _only_ when the seal of a Shadow Pokemon is almost completely powerless. If the bar on the Aura Reader was empty, or even close to empty the Stone would work...but this time around..."

"Since you can't get a solid reading, you don't know if the stone will work?" Blaze offers.

Krane nods. An awkward silence fills the room for a few seconds before Sonic speaks up. "Well, we won't know if that rock does work if we're just sitting here. We might as well give it a shot."

"Sonic's right, so where exactly is the Relic Stone?" Colette asks.

"Agate Village is about forty miles to the south-west; there's a trail leading there through the forest," Krane answers, "But its maybe another hour until night-fall; perhaps half-that before the forest gets too dark to navigate. You five are more than welcome to spend the night here."

"Thanks, but we're good. Packed for just such an occasion," Falco replies, gesturing at the backpacks most of them wore.

"If you insist, I'll contact a friend of mine in Agate and tell him to be ready for you. Well, you five know the way out; its a pleasure meeting you all," Krane pauses to spin and face the only pokemon of the group. "I do earnestly hope you can recover Lucario. Cipher is a horrible organization for doing what they did."

"Thank you Krane." Lucario says before quietly leading his friends out of the office and down the elevator.

The stares of the trainers return once they get outside, but like before nobody approaches. It doesn't last; one of the trainers suddenly decides to block the stairs.

"I recognize you!" He proclaims, "You're Lucario, a Smash Brother! Imagine what a great addition you'll make to my team!"

Lucario's eyes quickly narrow while his fists clench. "What did you just say?" he snarls.

"You talk? I'm definitely going to catch you-" his sentence gets cut off as the trainer violently exhales; a result of Lucario charging with Extremespeed and slamming a fist into the human's gut.

As the unlucky trainer keels over, Lucario's knee quickly lunges upward and strikes him in the face; making the human collapse into a groaning slump at his feet, blood starting to leak from his nose.

The pokemon angrily stares down at the groaning teenager before shining the gaze at the rest of them. "This is what awaits any of you who dare try and capture me! I am _not_ a prize!" Lucario roars.

He takes a deep breath to calm himself, then looks back at his friends, "Lets go. The further away from _them_ we can get, the better."

Without even waiting for their answer, Lucario steps over the crippled trainer and heads down the stairs. The friends only just manage to catch up with him as he starts down the forest path.

* * *

Krane's words hold true; the group barely manages to go ten or fifteen miles before the light gets too dim for them to continue. Luckily, where they stopped is also where the path got close to the border of forest and grassland.

The group leaves the path and settles in a small area about thirty feet from the path. Colette quickly puts together a fire-pit, which is ignited by Blaze, while Falco digs out a big bag of marshmallows from his knapsack. Sonic produces five roasting spits from his knapsack and soon the friends are roasting the fluffy white treats and chatting...

...or at least, four of the five are chatting. A certain canine-like pokemon is noticeably quiet.

"I'm still chuckling how a rogue Bob-omb ended that fight of yours a few days ago Sonic," Falco remarks with a chuckle.

"At least I didn't get floored by a couple of mice with a Springboard," Sonic retorts.

Falco chokes on the marshmallow he just chomped on, but manages to gulp it down. "Hey, those two are wily! They're like hyperactive twin batteries!"

Blaze rolls her eyes at the bird, then glances over at the pokemon...still no reaction; just him quietly watching his marshmallow roast.

"Hey Falco?" Colette asks, getting the bird's attention, "Tell me again when these are done?"

"The marshmallow? Right as it starts to turn brown, that's when they're perfect."

Colette looks at her treat, notices that it was just starting to get there and quickly pulls it from the fire. She bites off a piece and sighs at the sweet treat, then lifts her head and looks at the first of the stars. "This planet is pretty nice. The skies are clear, the air is fresh, it reminds me of home."

"She's right," Sonic nods, "Hard finding someplace this natural on Mobius."

"Its alright," Lucario grunts, chomping onto his marshmallow and pulling it from the stick with his teeth. After swallowing the snack he continues, "Tolerable, at most. Would be a lot better without those damn trainers."

"Why exactly do you hate 'em so much? Apart from what those jerks did to ya so many years ago, they don't seem so bad," Falco remarks, reclining a little on his elbows. "And apart from that one idiot at the lab, they all seemed to keep their distance."

Lucario quietly, almost inaudibly, snorts. "I doubt they behaved that way out of the goodness of their hearts. I bet anything Krane asked them to leave us alone...had he not. there would be plenty more unconscious trainers outside that lab," The pokemon retorts, his voice irritated, "And imagine dealing with a moron like that at least twice a day, every day of the year, for almost fifteen years. Rarely is it just a trainer...oftentimes I have to beat down several other pokemon to make them go away."

The other four quiet down.

"I can't stand their kind...walking all over this planet like they own it. Who even gave them the right to do what they do? Who gave them permission to just take whatever pokemon they want? To steal them away from their homes, possibly their families?" Lucario's eyes are still aimed at the fire, but the glare in them sent shivers down the spines of his friends. "Arrogant jerks...how can they promote something like that? Its not-"

Lucario stops when he feels a hand rest onto his, and looks to see Blaze looking back; concern in her eyes. The pokemon bites his tongue and takes a few deep breaths before speaking again. "Forgive me...I almost...relapsed."

"Nah dude," Falco grunts, "Is not your fault. I shouldn't have wandered onto such a touchy subject."

"I still need to be more self-aware...especially when friends are nearby." Lucario replies, gently pulling his hand from Blaze's. "Why did you four even want to come with me in the first place?"

"What do you mean, 'why'?" Colette counter-asks, cutely tilting her head, "We're your friends Luca, we want to be there for you when you need us."

"But I _don't_ need you!" Lucario suddenly exclaims, "I've been able to fend for myself since I was five! I don't need you guys!"

He glances around and sees everyone has a slightly hurt expression. "I didn't mean it like that...I've been taking fine care of myself for years, I don't need anyone looking after me," Lucario seems to pout before continuing, "It makes me feel weak, helpless."

"I guess nobody really likes having others tagging along just to keep watch on them," Sonic says, "But you heard Krane; you really need us around Lucario."

"What are you talking about?"

Sonic's emerald eyes look up at the stars. "I'm talking about what he said about that seal on your heart. That it only weakens and opens up as the Shadow Pokemon makes friends and builds trust? Sure he said that its usually between the pokemon and its trainer...but to me, a friendship is a friendship; it doesn't matter who are on the ends of it."

"Sonic's got a point," Colette says, "And if you look at it that way, you're much better off without one of those trainers." She smiles and giggles, "You've got at least six or seven friends, right? Plus everyone else at the mansion who likes having you around. That's over fifty bonds you've made!"

A bewildered expression crosses the pokemon's face for a few seconds; then he sighs and stands up. "Its getting late, and I have a feeling I'll need my strength for tomorrow. Good night."

He turns on his heel and walks off to the edge of the fire-light, not even acknowledging the good-nights he gets in return. His four friends watch him lie down on the grass, shuffle around a little, then grow still.

Blaze sighs while leaning forward, resting her elbows on her knees and head in hands. "It sucks seeing him like that...and I doubt being home is helping much," She sadly remarks, golden eyes staring into the fire.

"Its hard understanding him..." Falco adds, "His life is just so different from ours. Its made him tougher, sure...but...I still wish I could undo some of it."

"Its never easy seeing a friend struggle," Colette says, "Even worse when you can't help. I said we're here as proof of our friendship...but its still frustrating not being able to do anything else."

"All we can do is escort Lucario to the Relic Stone. Once he's purified, we just take him back to the mansion and we can start hanging out like normal friends." Sonic replies, training his emerald gaze on the moon. "I think he's got the right idea though, lets get some sleep too. 'night all."

Sonic hops to his feet and walks a few feet away from the fire, then falls over onto his back, stretches out, and shuts his eyes.

Colette and Falco bid Blaze a good-night as well before moving off to claim their own beds; leaving the princess alone with the fire. She casts one final longing gaze into the fire, as if it would tell her what to do, before sighing and clenching a fist.

The fire goes out with a sizzle, leaving the cat to move a few feet away and curl up.

* * *

Blaze's ear twitches a little in her sleep. It's difficult to describe, but something just seemed odd...it felt as if her subconscious was trying to tell her that something was amiss.

Regretfully she cracks open her eyes and sits up. Just as she was about to conjure up a flame for light, she takes note of a light source...a flickering one. Her eyes focus a little more to find the fire-pit re-lit and a silhouette sitting between her and the flames.

She quietly gets up and walks over, finding Lucario sitting there; distantly gazing into the flames. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep...I just can't stop going over everything in my head." Lucario replies. "You?"

Blaze shrugs before sitting down next to him. "Care to elaborate?"

"Its what Master Hand said before we left...that whole family metaphor thing. I've never thought about the rest of the smashers as family before. Just a bunch of quirky house-mates," Lucario says, keeping his ruby gaze on the fire. "For the longest time, I thought I'd never be part of a family again...but pondering over it...I realize that Master was right. We aren't related, but each of us looks out for the rest. We've all formed bonds, hung out...and I was blind to it all."

"That's not your fault, its the seal on your heart," Blaze says, "It kept you from feeling any of that."

"I still should've known," Lucario argues, "Even if I couldn't have felt it, I still should've been able to recognize that there were people who cared about me...people that, at least partially fill the void where my real family was..." He shakes his head, "I'm one of the densest guys in the galaxy. The whole mansion, over fifty people were concerned about my welfare after what happened...and I respond with silence and absence. I'm such an idiot..."

"Hey. Don't say that about yourself," Blaze replies, "Sure, you're kinda dense, but you're not an idiot. You didn't know what else to do or how to face us, its okay."

Lucario sighs, "There's a lot I don't know. I don't know if this Relic Stone will work...what if it doesn't Blaze? What if I'm stuck being a Shadow Pokemon forever? What I am supposed to do then? Just accept it? Ask everyone else to accommodate it? A-and what if it _does_ work and I get my emotions back? I've grown used to faint flickers of happiness and such, what if I can't keep them under control when they're back at full force? There's just so much I don't-"

The pokemon's voice abruptly stops when he feels two fingers rest against both of his temples. "Shh," Blaze whispers from behind him, gently rubbing her fingers in a circle. "Overthinking this is only going to make you a nervous wreck. It never leads anyplace good."

Lucario doesn't reply at first, too soothed by her gentle touch to really do anything. "Then what should I do?"

"Take it as it comes," Blaze replies, her voice soft. "I remember reading through one of the books at the mansion and one phrase stuck with me. _There's no point in trying to predict the future, as there's nothing to be done to stop it. _It means, don't waste your time trying to guess at or figure out what will happen since there's nothing you can do to stop it from happening.

"Don't drive yourself nuts trying to figure out how to cope with whatever is going to happen in Agate tomorrow. Just let it happen, then deal with it."

Lucario sighs, "I suppose you're right...but...I'm sorry. Sorry for making you guys worry over me."

"Its alright...I'm sorry for spilling your secrets," Blaze admits, stopping her fingers. "You mad at me?"

"No. It...actually feels a little easier now, not having to keep myself hidden away. I don't have that weight on my mind now." Lucario pauses for a second, "Could you do that some more? It felt really nice."

Lucario curiously lifts an eyebrow when he feels Blaze's fingers retreat...then a few seconds later he sees a pair of white gloves fall into his lap.

Just as he's about to ask, the pokemon feels a pair of warm hands rest on his shoulders and gently begin rubbing down his muscles.

"This good?" Blaze asks.

"Very good...but you didn't-"

"Yes, I do. Believe me, _nothing_ can calm someone's mind better than a nice shoulder rub." Blaze counters.

Lucario quiets down, not having a good reason to argue. She was right after all; feeling her fingers gently massage his shoulders was quite relaxing...almost hypnotic. He was also sure that Blaze was keeping her hands warm on purpose, which also felt quite comfortable. But perhaps the most soothing feeling of all was feeling her fur rub against his.

He'd never quite taken note of it before, but Blaze's fur is incredibly soft. Not like velvet or silk, but soft in its own unique way...it was difficult to relate to something else, but just feeling her fur sliding across him is relaxing on its own.

The pokemon sighs while his mind quiets down; all of his confusion melting away at the princess' touch. After a nice couple of minutes, Blaze's hands slide to Lucario's sides and the princess gently falls forward to rest her cheek against his back.

"B-Blaze?" Lucario asks as her arms close around him.

"I don't want to set your mind wandering again," Blaze softly whispers, getting the fur on Lucario's neck to stand on end. "But...when you get your emotions back...I-I really need to tell you something."

"Why not just tell me now?" Lucario asks, grabbing hold of Blaze's arms. "I'm not letting go until you tell me."

"Come on, it can wait."

"Nope...no reason to put off what can be done today."

Blaze gives up and sighs. "W-Well...Lucario...I," she gulps, "I re-"

That's as far as she got, a new, gravelly voice yelling, "Weezing! Smokescreen!" interrupts.

The pokemon and mobian whip around, but still get caught in the choking smoke. By now the other three have partially woken up, and start choking and coughing just as bad as their fully awake friends.

Sonic quickly leaps to his feet and begins running at high speeds in a tight circle; whipping up a small cyclone almost immediately. The foul smoke is quickly sucked up the vortex and vented off into the atmosphere; revealing the campsite once again.

They quickly look around and find two things; Lucario is suddenly absent and a strange red vehicle is hightailing it away from them and into the plains.

Just as it clicks in the minds of Falco, Sonic, and Colette; a fierce snarl is heard before the wind tears itself into a frenzy, the result of a fiery lavender blur giving chase.

"Just anotha' reason why you shouldn't tick her off," Falco shrugs before following the rest of his friends.

By now Blaze and the vehicle are several miles away, and the enraged princess is almost even with the fleeing vehicle. With a yell she leaps into the air and lands atop the truck with a metallic thud.

She can hear the startled murmuring of the passengers, forms a few fireballs in her hands, and blasts them down at the roof of the truck. Nothing, barely even a burn.

Bracing herself against the wind, Blaze stomps up to the front of the vehicle, reaches over the side and starts pounding at the windows. After a few punches, she flips around and, in a stunning yet frightening display of balance, grace, and rage, swings the toe of her shoe down at the window.

Whether its the increased force or that she's now hitting with a fine point; the window shatters, getting the passengers to scream.

Blaze flips herself around again before reaching in, grabbing hold of one of the men, and pulling his screaming hide out of the truck.

Just as her victim clears the window, the truck swerves and manages to knock Blaze and the now-abandoned ally off.

The two tumble into the grass as the truck vanishes into the night. Luckily for the man, Sonic shows up and manages to restrain his enraged friend.

"Let me go Sonic!" Blaze yells.

"Chill Blaze," Falco says as he and Colette touch down next to them. He was the slowest of the group, and to keep him from falling behind Colette had carried him along while flying after the mobians. "With the mood you're in, you'll likely make this guy pass out from terror."

Blaze stops struggling against the hedgehog, but is still glaring daggers at the man.

"Let me handle this," Falco says, casually walking up to the frightened person. "Look buddy, personally, I don't want to hurt ya," he says, looking down at the man. '_What an odd outfit. That white armor makes him look like some minion from an old superhero show.'_

"Now tell me, you guys took our buddy away in that fancy truck, didn't ya?"

Not seeing the point in denying the obvious, the man nods.

"So why don't you be a good sport and tell us where it was headed?"

"I c-can't d-do that," The man says, he reaches for his waist but gasps when his belt is empty.

"Looking for these?" Colette asks, holding out two pokeballs.

"How did you-"

"There's lots you can do when you move at the speed of sound," Sonic grins.

The man gasps. The hedgehog had never moved, and yet he had taken the pokeballs from his belt and gave them to the blond, but never left the psychotic woman's side.

"Now, I'll ask again. Where'd you take our friend?" Falco asks, still showing surprising respect towards him. His voice wasn't angry, it wasn't sinister, just polite.

"I-I s-said already...I c-can't tell you."

The avian sighs, "Last chance dude. Tell us where you took our friend, or she'll," he stops to gesture at Blaze, "be taking over for me."

One look into those enraged eyes immediately makes him crack. "Alright! I'll tell! Just don't let her near me!" he exclaims. "We...We took him our headquarters, its a good fourty...fifty-five miles west from here."

"Details?"

"Its a giant glass pyramid, you can't possibly miss it!"

Falco smiles at the guy and gently pats him on the head. "See? Was that so hard? Now...just one more thing..."

"Wh-What?"

Falco smirks before giving a "Wha-ta!" and chopping down on the back of his neck, getting the man to crumple to the ground; out cold.

"Falco!" Colette gasps, "How could you just-"

"Relax Colette, I didn't kill the guy. Everybody's got a nerve at the base of their neck the stuns 'em when properly hit. He'll be out cold for hours," Falco explains, "Now then, lets get the police here on this guy."

The avian hits a few buttons on his scouter, waits a few seconds, then starts talking as if he was on the phone. "Yea, hello? Is this the police? Yea, I was hiking in the woods when some crazy guy jumped me...yea, we're both okay, I managed to knock him out. T'ing is, I don't exactly feel comfortable leaving him out here...Where am I? Oh...I dunno, several miles south of Agate Village. A bit further beyond were the forest becomes a grassland...You'll send someone? Oh thank you! I'm going to hurry away from here in case he's got some accomplices...my name? C-Can I just stay anonymous? Alright, thanks. Good night to you too."

He switches the device off before turning to the others, "Cops are on their way to get him, now lets go get our friend back."

The other three nod before hurrying away in the direction the man described; eager to get Lucario back.

**

* * *

**

I bet nobody saw this twist coming! Cipher is still formed! And now they've kidnapped Lucario! Will his friends be able to save him? Or will the remnents of Cipher keep Lucario for their sinister ends? Find out on the next chapter!

**(slaps himself for sounding like a TV ad) Anyway hope you enjoyed the chapter, see ya in the next one!**


	32. Homeland Part Two

Chapter 32 Homeland Part 2

"Well, at least that sniveling punk told the truth," Blaze growls, crossing her arms and glaring down at the Cipher base. All four of the smashers are standing on a cliff's edge, looking down at exactly what the Cipher grunt described; a giant glass pyramid.

Surrounding the structure is a lake of disgusting purple sludge, the pyramid resting smack in the middle. There is a small bridge connecting an opening in the pyramid to a platform, which in turn has another bridge linking it to the mainland. Through the shining glass, another structure is visible; resembling various cubes smushed into each other haphazardly.

They knew this was the right place not only because it matched the grunt's description but they could also see the red truck from before nearby.

"Ready to crack a few heads are ya?" Falco laughs.

"Uh...Falco?" Colette asks.

"Yo?" the avian replies, turning to look at the blond.

Colette nervously smiles before pointing down at the platform. He turns and his eyes widen...

...Blaze was already down there; a pile of unconscious Cipher peons at her feet, many with scorch marks on their shiny white armor.

"What's gotten into her?" Falco asks, before taking Colette's hand and letting her fly him down to the feline. Sonic instantly rockets to his top speed in the three feet of space between him and the cliff, using that speed to catapult him to the platform.

Blaze is already up to the doors; which are sealed shut. There's a keypad beside the door; a set of keys between 0-9, some kind of slot, and a display which currently reads "LOCKED."

"Pff. These guys think a simple keypad lock will keep us out?" Falco rhetorically asks, gently nudging Blaze to get her to move aside.

While the avian leans over to start cracking the lock, Colette and Sonic gather near the feline. "You okay Blaze? You've gotten a lot angrier since Lucario was taken," Sonic states.

"Of course I'm angrier!" exclaims Blaze, "Our friend just got kidnapped, aren't you mad?"

"You think I'm not? I'm mad at these guys too!"

"I think Sonic meant; why are you attacking everything in sight?" asks Colette, "We're mad at these men too, but we're not lashing out like you are."

Blaze snorts and crosses her arms, "Guess I'm just not as good as controlling my temper as you are."

Before angel or hedgehog could probe further, Falco laughs as the door opens up. "They oughta think about changing the password every once in a while," He smirks before leading the other three inside.

"How'd you figure it out?" Sonic asks.

"Just found which keys were looser than the others. Then it was just simple trial and error."

Taking a guess, the four of them turn to the right and proceed down the stark, dark hallway. There were lights, but they were incredibly dim. The thick layer of dust on the walls suggested that this place was abandoned until recently.

"I've been in wrecked spacecraft more lively than this," Falco grunts before the group heads up a flight of stairs.

They creep down another hallway, soon coming to another door. Unlike the front door, this one opens right up as they approach. The room they come out in is quite spacious, but completely empty. On the opposite side of the room is a (stairway) that leads to another door.

"Where's all the guards?" Colette asks.

Just as she says that, the other doors slide open and half-a-dozen Cipher men come running out. Unlike the guards from before, who wore pure white armor with a red scarf, each of these men is dressed in color. One is red with a blue scarf, one yellow with a green scarf, one purple with a brown scarf, and the other three having a color swap from their companions.

Three of them run down the stairway on the left, three down the one on the right. They all re-gather at the base of the stairs and form into a line; going (from left to right) red, blue, yellow, brown, green, purple.

"We are the brothers hexagon!" They yell in unison, "The Hexagon Brothers are we!"

"Count off!" Red proclaims.

"One!" Blue cheers.

"Two!" Yellow adds.

"Three!" Brown exclaims.

"Four!" Green yells.

"Five!" Purple closes.

A moment of silence fills the room.

"...Five?" Red asks, "My brothers, one of us is missing!"

The smashers almost pull an anime-style collapse.

"That's ridiculous!" Purple yells, "Let me try! Count off!"

They count the same way again, just in reverse order.

"See I told you!" Red yells, "One of us isn't here."

"These guys don't have a brain between the six of 'em." Falco says.

Sonic notices Blaze glaring at the idiotic men, and rests a hand on her shoulder. "If this all that's standing between us and Lucario, we've got nothing to worry about. They make Eggman's robots look smart."

"Never mind our missing brother, look yonder!" Red exclaims, "We've got ourselves intruders!"

"Yes we do!" Yellow exclaims. "Quickly my brothers! To your defensive positions! And should we find our missing number, let him know!"

Blue, Yellow, Brown, Green, and Purple turn around and run up the stairs; leaving the room. Red is left behind and causally takes a few steps forward. "You four must've done well to get this far, but now your stroll through our base has come to an end!"

"Done well?" Blaze growls, "There's nobody else here!"

The red-clad man seems oblivious to her words. "Magmortar! Resix calls for your aid!" he shouts, tossing a pokeball out.

The sphere pops open and releases a vaguely human-like pokemon into the room; skin tinted a mix of red, orange, yellow, and pink. Its whole body seemed to be on fire and no hands were at the end of its arms.

"Dispose of these pests!"

The pokemon bellows loudly before raising its arms, which actually looked hollow, and firing out two fireballs.

Blaze lunges ahead, snags the fireballs out of the air, then combines them before throwing it back. The fire seems to diffuse into Magmortar's body.

"So you and I both use fire?" Blaze sneers, "Too bad I'm better!"

Somehow the pokemon understands her and doesn't take the insult too well. With another bellow it charges forward, fist...err...arm-stump pulled back. The feline easily ducks under its Fire Punch, then brings her foot up into its jaw; forcing the creature to stagger backwards.

Building off what she did, Sonic goes whizzing by in a blur; slamming the pokemon even further back thanks to a well aimed Spin Dash. Colette and Falco try finishing the combo with the chakrams and laser shots, respectively, but they seem to vaporize on contact with the pokemon; its own body heat making the light-based attacks diffuse around it.

Even worse, the tackle left Sonic with a burn between his shoulder spikes. The mobian winces while returning to Colette, allowing her to start healing the wound. "You're the only one that can attack that thing Blaze!" he exclaims, "Vent now!"

The feline wickedly smiles while clenching her fists, allowing them to catch ablaze. With an angered battle-cry she charges forward; quickly slugging the pokemon in the gut.

Magmortar winces, but still manages to swat her away; then block another charge with a Flamethrower. Blaze jumps into the air and tosses a few more fireballs, but again they don't even faze the pokemon.

The pokemon tries a few fireballs in exchange, but this time Blaze catches and holds onto them. She squeezes down on the balls and a few seconds pass before they simply vanish...just, poof.

Undeterred, Magmortar fires off a few more fireballs. Blaze does the same trick again. Before the pokemon could try a third time, the feline manages to get close enough to land a couple kicks to its sides.

Like before the pokemon winces, but didn't seem to show much else. It tries a Flamethrower attack again, this time Blaze holding out her hands and (somehow) keeping the attack from reaching her.

The pokemon quickly stops the attack and charges forward, swinging its arms wildly. Blaze darts out of the way. Magmortar fires off another fireball. Blaze catches it and makes it disappear again.

"Enough playing! Magmortar! Overheat!"

The creature bellows before rearing back, then leaning forward; spitting out a giant stream of bright-yellow flames. The brightness of the attack forces the other three smashers to look away, but all are concerned that Blaze, as strong in the ways of fire as she is, would get seriously injured from this attack.

When they can finally look again, all three gasp; Magmortar is down on one knee, having exerted itself with that attack...but even more amazing is Blaze, standing tall without so much as singed fur. On the contrary, she actually seemed to be glowing after that last attack.

"You call that fire?" she yells, "THIS is a fire!"

Suddenly the glow ignites into spiraling flames, warping and twisting around her body. With a yell the fire explodes away from her; creating a torrent of white-hot flames that slam into Magmortar and actually seem to do some damage.

Once the inferno burns itself out, Magmortar is lying in the far corner of the room; out cold. Resix can only stare, slack-jawed, before suddenly feeling a hand grab his scarf and pulling him downward. In an instant he's looking into the enraged golden eyes of the pyro-princess.

"Where. Is. Lucario?" she snarls; her voice so menacing even Bowser would've hid in his shell.

Resix gulps. "Th-the top of the building; you get there through that door," he replies, pointing at the door above the stairs.

Blaze stares at his visor for a few more seconds, before, with a yell, heaving the man over her shoulder and into the same corner as his pokemon. She snorts as the other three walk up to her. "This is nice, finally being able to make them pay...I'll tear this whole building apart if I have to."

"She can too," Sonic whispers into Falco's ear, getting the avian to snicker both for fun and nervously.

"Lets go," Blaze grunts, leading the group up the double stairs. They pass through the door and quickly scatter to avoid a massive torrent of water.

Blocking their way in this room is a giant turtle; standing up on its hind legs. It has bluish scales on all appendages, but the most surprising thing are the giant cannon barrels on its shoulders.

Blusix laughs evilly from the turtle's side. "So you got past Resix?" he mocks, "Too bad Blastoise shall leave you high and dry! Hydro Pump!"

The turtle makes a noise that sounded like a cross between a roar and a deep guttural bellow. Exploding from its shoulder-cannons are two water streams; forcing the smashers to scatter like ants.

"That's what Squirtle will turn into one day?" Sonic asks in surprise. "And I thought the little guy was annoying now!"

Blastoise hears this, roar-bellows again and blasts its water cannons at the hedgehog. Sonic easily dodges the relatively slow attack, but is still freaked...the pokemon is using his biggest weakness after all.

Blaze however, is undeterred. She flings a couple fireballs at the mammoth-sized turtle, but the pokemon merely swivels one of its cannons around and fires; drenching the fire and putting it out in an instant.

The feline side-steps the attack and charges forward in a fiery blur; quickly side-stepping another Hydro Pump. The pokemon turns and fires both cannons at Blaze, scoring a hit and pushing her into the wall with a thud.

Blastoise smirks at his victory before something clangs off one of his cannons. It glances over to see a golden ring flying back to the blond. Colette gasps before sprouting her wings and flying out of the way of another water stream.

"This is nuts!" Falco yells, firing a few laser-pistol shots; but only seems to succeed in irritating the large pokemon. "It doesn't even have to _move_ to attack us."

"And none of our attacks seem to bother it," Blaze adds, staggering up beside the bird and soaked to the bone.

"We could try tipping it onto its back," Colette suggests.

The other two look at her, then at each other. Bowser's gotten stuck on his back plenty of times, and he's about the same size as this turtle...maybe it'll work on Blastoise too.

"Colette keep it distracted!" Blaze yells, "Sonic, get that blue butt over here!"

Colette nods before tossing her chakrams back at Blastoise; hitting it in the temple and getting its attention.

Sonic is beside Falco and Blaze in a second. "What?"

"Falco, you're good at soccer, right?"

"About as much as the next guy," he shrugs. "Why?"

"Kick Sonic into Blastoise."

"What?" Sonic exclaims, "You want me to get _kicked_ towards the creature that can drown me in an instant?"

"I remember that move you and Amy used a few times; you curl up and spin in place, then she slams her hammer into you and drives you forward like a missile," Blaze replies, "Replace hammer with Falco's leg and we should get the same result...if a little weaker."

Sonic sighs in defeat before spinning in place.

"Hope this plan works princess..." Falco mumbles, taking aim. He waits for just the right moment, then runs forward and kicks Sonic hard; sending a blue bullet straight towards Blastoise's head.

The turtle moves at the last second however, causing Sonic to connect with its chin instead. The hedgehog ricochets off the large pokemon as it tips backward with a deep scream. Blastoise lands on its back and flails its short, stocky arms and legs in an attempt to get back upright.

The smashers cheer at their victory before the pokemon roars in anger and withdraws into its shell. Its water cannons fire again; propelling the huge shell towards the group, again forcing them to scatter.

Blastoise rams into a wall with a thud, bounces off, and comes sliding towards the smashers again.

"Well, we got rid of the turtle!" Sonic exclaims, quickly getting out of the large creature's way. "But now we've got a giant hockey-puck of death!"

"It was worth a try! Sorry!" Colette replies, keeping herself aloft and out of the pokemon's reach.

"Who knows? Maybe it'll knock itself out!" Falco suggests, just before screaming from a near miss.

By some weird coincidence; Blastoise does seem to coast to stop after it hits the wall a few more times. The turtle pokemon doesn't leave its shell, but a faint groaning noise can be heard coming from it. Before Blusix could get a word out, Falco chops the back of his neck; leaving him to fall to the floor as the smashers proceed into the next room.

They aren't attacked as soon as they enter, but are greeted by a loud roar. Guarding the stairway in this room is a giant, humanoid pokemon covered in shaggy yellow fur. Jagged black marking adorn its coat and the large creature glares at the smashers with crimson red eyes.

Yelsix's laughs ring out from the left landing on the stairs. "Impressive that you got this far, but Electivire will ensure you meet a shocking end!"

Electivire roars in agreement and slams its fists together; causing a loud electrical crackle to ring out.

"Just great, something else we can't touch," Falco grunts before whipping out both pistols and firing away. Colette soon follows with a couple chakrams.

Electivire, irritated by these attacks, raises up what seem to be its tails; two long wire-resembling objects with a bright red tip. Electricity arcs between the tails before it launches a Thunderbolt that would make Pikachu jealous.

The lightning bolt shreds the incoming projectiles and almost zaps Falco had Sonic not zipped by and pulled him out of the way. Blaze sighs in relief at her friend's safety before heavy footsteps begin echoing in the large room.

She looks just in time to see Electivire leap into the air, then come plummeting back at her with its elbow out. The feline quickly darts out of the way, leaving the pokemon to crash into the ground with a painful sounding thud; but it stands up and roars as if nothing happened.

Falco and Colette try their attacks again, but like before Electivire blocks them with a Thunderbolt. Just as its about to fire again, a blue blur zips out from behind the angel and avian; quickly running circles around the large pokemon.

At first it seems as if Sonic is simply mimicking Lucario's Double Team; creating a ring of semi-transparent Sonics to confuse Electivire. Then, with a happy cackle, Sonic puts on a burst of speed which causes all of the fake Sonic to blend together; creating a single ring of pure cobalt.

Blaze, Falco, Colette, and Yelsix have to brace themselves as a fierce wind is brought to life in the room. The winds begin to centralize around Sonic, quickly giving rise to a tornado. The vortex grows powerful enough to actually lift Electivire into the air, causing its red eyes to grow wide.

The large Electric-type struggles vainly against the wind, it can barely move let alone concentrate enough to fire off a lightning bolt. Up in the air, all of its strength is worthless.

"To paraphrase an old saying," the cobalt ring taunts, "The bigger you are..."

Sonic suddenly breaks his circuit and is at the top of the stairs before anybody even knew he moved. Yelsix is lying in a groaning heap on his landing and the wind starts dying down...

...then Electivire meets steel floor with a loud thud. The pokemon groans and tries to get up, but collapses again.

"The louder you crash," Sonic finishes, smirking at the downed pokemon. "Come on guys! We've gotta be getting close by now!" he exclaims, hurrying through the door while his friends play catch up.

By the time they get through, Sonic's gotten himself in trouble again; this time having a large, dinosaur-like pokemon blocking his way. The thing had to be at least seven feet tall and its skin is a dark-brown color and resembled hard rock. It stands upright, has a strange red belt around its mid-section, a long tail with a club at the end, and two horns on the top of its snout.

Two large piles of rocks sit in front of the pokemon, and its somehow launching them with the speed of cannonballs. "Little help!" Sonic yells, glaring daggers at both the pokemon and Browsix, the latter of which is laughing his head off up on the stairs.

"Yes Rhyperior!" he exclaims, "Go! Go! Bury that blue creature in rocks!"

The dino roars in agreement while keeping up its attack. It hesitates a little, however, when a large fireball hits it in the side. Blaze and Rhyperior snarl at each other before the former tosses a few more fireballs and the latter fires off its rocks. The projectiles collide with and block one another, but a momentary distraction from Colette's chakram allows Blaze to land a few hits.

Unfortunately, the thick skin of the pokemon keeps it from even flinching. Noticing that Falco is pulling out his weapons and Sonic seems to be charging at it, Rhyperior roars before slamming its fist into the floor; not only denting the floor but causing the room to begin shaking.

The shockwaves not only trip up the smashers, but also knock Browsix from his perch. As the criminal ungracefully tumbles down the stairs, and the smashers get knocked onto their butts.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Rhyperior bellows before charging straight at the young blonde; aiming to crush her under its massive bulk.

Luckily for her, Sonic manages to hop up to his feet and dart over in an instant. He scoops Colette into his arms without so much as stumbling; quickly whisking her to safety.

The Rhyperior snarls at the hedgehog and angel, then gets pegged just under the eye with a laser blast. Two more shots get in its mouth and burn its tongue; enraging the dino even more. It whips its tail around, swinging the sledgehammer at Falco...

...who manages to backflip out of the way just in time.

"Are there _any_ pokemon that are easy to take down?" Falco angrily asks, frustrated by the most recent roadblock. "I mean seriously, first we've gotta deal with something that's on fire...then a turtle with water cannons in its shoulders..." he has to stop to avoid a punch swung by the large pokemon, "Then a walking power plant and now a crabby rock!"

"I don't know Falco, he looks more like a dinosaur than a crab to me," Colette replies, staying aloft and out of the pokemon's reach.

"Not the point Colette!" Blaze exclaims, nimbly avoiding another tail swing. "How do you stop a rock?"

Nobody could answer right away, since the dino-rock thing decided to go stampeding forward; forcing everyone to scatter. No matter what they tried, the pokemon never seemed to even notice...well, apart from getting angrier.

"Dammit, this is taking way too long!" Blaze yells, throwing a fireball at the Rhyperior. It bellows before charging forward; headbutting through the fire and attempting to skewer the princess on its horn. No such luck, the feline curls out of the way; but grabs hold of its arm and flips herself around, slamming her heels against the side of its face.

The pokemon shakes its arm and throws the feline across the room, only to be distracted by fly-by punch from the hedgehog

"She's right...we gotta get past it now," Falco mutters under his breath. He's been surprisingly quiet in the past minute or so of the battle; racking his brain for some idea to stop the behemoth.

_'Luca told me a bunch of things about pokemon when we hung out...he had to have mentioned something useful!'_ Falco thinks, firing off a few shots before having to duck under a cannonball rock. _'C'mon Lombardi, think! Pokemon are strong in certain elements...each element has strengths and weaknesses...think logically, what would a rock hate?_

_'...Wind? Nah. Can't imagine electricity would do too much either...wait! Water! Water erodes rocks! Oh, but where in Pepper's name are we gonna get water in here?'_ Again, Falco leaps away from a swinging tail. _'This is a building and buildings typically have water pipes...'_

He's cut from his thoughts when he spies another rock hurtling towards him. Instead of dodging, like he's done before, Falco quickly snatches up his reflector and kicks it forward; causing the projectile to ricochet up towards the ceiling and collide with a tile. As the bird pockets the handy little device, he catches the glint of metal in the corner of his eye.

When its safe, he looks up and can see a few pipes in the ceiling. _'Bingo! Now lets hope those are water lines!'_ he thinks before getting Colette's attention, then gestures for her to come to him.

"What is it Falco?" she asks, fluttering in the air above him.

"You see that glint in the ceiling? Try luring Rhyperior underneath it."

Colette looks to where Falco was pointing, then nods and flies over towards Rhyperior. She tosses a few chakrams to get its attention then yells, "Hey you dino-crab thing! Bet you can't hit me!"

Sonic and Blaze can almost see the vein bulging in Rhyperior's head after hearing that taunt. Out of all four, it probably found Colette the most annoying...always staying just out of reach, nimbly dodging his projectiles...and now she dared to mock him? But she made a mistake...she's a little lower than she was, she's within reach.

The Rhyperior releases an angry roar before charging toward the angel, swinging one of its massive fists around, but missing as she flutters backward. It tries again only for the same result.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Colette taunts, sticking out her tongue.

Rhyperior bellows again before attempting to jump for her...but doesn't manage to get more than a foot off the ground and is even further from reaching the angel. The final straw goes when Colette turns around and pulls a goofy face at it; driving the dinosaur into a frenzy and making it charge forward.

Colette darts out of the way, letting Rhyperior go careening forward. Falco takes aim, waits for the right moment, then fires three shots at the pipe. All three hit their mark exactly, causing the pipe to burst and start drenching the Rock-type.

Rhyperior roars in fright and pain as gallon upon gallon pour down from above. As it flails around and the water begins to puddle beneath it, the pokemon's foot comes down at just the wrong angle to go slipping away; causing the pokemon to collapse onto its back.

For a minute or two, Rhyperior doesn't get up right away. "Guess we finally stopped it," Sonic says, letting his muscles relax a little. The gang turns and starts going up the stairs, carefully stepping around the still unconscious Browsix. Just as they are about to reach the doorway, two rocks embed themselves in the wall just beside the door.

They look down to see Rhyperior, drenched but standing, and glaring at the smashers; as if daring them to take another step. "Oh for the love of!" Falco yells, "This guy's more stubborn than Andross!"

Rhyperior bellows before launching another rock at them. Colette quickly forms and tosses one of her chakrams at the rock; hitting the projectile and making it ricochet up into the ceiling. The rock strikes near the damaged pipe and causes at least several pounds of debris to come tumbling down.

The various building materials land on Rhyperior's head, making it roar...then teeter forward...backward...then finally collapse, face-first, into the water. "Lets go before it decides to get up again!" Colette says, "Any idea what could be waiting for us next?"

"Hopefully not another giant pokemon that takes forever to take down!" Sonic replies.

They all move through the door to find not just one, but both of the remaining Hexagon Brothers at the base of the next set of stairs. They cackle as the smashers enter.

"Not bad for getting this far, but you'll go no further!" Purpsix declares.

"The next door is locked and un-openable!" Greesix adds.

"And now you must fight us both!" They declare.

After they finish their sentence, a blue blur rushes behind both of them; both of the criminals crumpling to the ground as it goes by. Sonic skids to a stop over on the right side of the room and angrily scowls at them. "I am _tired_ of having to deal with these idiots," he declares, crossing his arms and snorting, "This door better lead to Lucario; I have to deal with any more morons and _I'll_ turn into a Shadow Pokemon."

The others give a quick laugh before heading past the defeated villains, but Blaze holds back when Sonic grabs her arm. "If this door does lead to Lucario, he's going to be well guarded. I've got a feeling that if you explode in there, its only going to wind up hurting more than helping," he calmly says, "I'm not saying don't fight, but at least keep your temper under control."

Blaze takes a deep breath before responding. "You're right, I've probably let my temper get hold of me too much today..." she admits, but then trains her anger-filled eyes into Sonic's, "But I am not guaranteeing _anything_. If I find a severely beaten Lucario in there; I will literally let all hell loose."

She roughly pulls her arm from Sonic's grip and starts up the stairs, followed shortly afterward by the blue hedgehog. "Blaze? Is there something going on between you and Lucario?" the hedgehog asks.

Blaze doesn't answer straight away. "N-no. I'm just concerned for his safety, and mad that these guys would dare capture him again," she replies.

Sonic decides to leave the matter alone, instead looking at his other two friends; the avian examining the weird lock and Colette looking over his shoulder. "Any luck?"

"This is a fingerprint lock; not unbeatable, but a big pain in the ass..." Falco replies, "Especially for someone like me who has no fingerprints. I'll need a minute to think of someway in..." he trails off, straightening up and taking a few steps from the lock.

Curious at the strange device, Colette decides to take a step forward. Unfortunately, as her leg swings forward, the other foot suddenly slips out from under her; causing the angel's eyes to go wide as she tumbles forward with a shriek.

Sonic manages to catch her before she face-plants, but not before her hand strikes the lock. After Colette stands upright again, the lock makes a nasty hissing noise; then sparks and unlocks.

The other three stare in awe, then look at the angel. Colette smiles while shrugging, "That tends to happen a lot."

"Well guys, I'm sure Luca's in there. Get ready..." Falco says, drawing his pistols and leading them through the door.

* * *

"Lucario, Lucario," a older man's voice complains, "Why do you stubbornly resist what we've done for you? We've made you so powerful now!"

"You can stick your power up your cowardly ass for all I care!" Lucario snarls, leering at the man from behind a wall of iron bars. "For your sake, these bars better hold; once I get my hands on you..." Lucario finishes his sentence with a dark growl.

"Yes, that's it...feel the anger in your heart. Let it- yee-owch!" the man whines, clasping a hand to his ear.

He turns around to see all of Lucario's friends standing in a row, Falco aiming one of his pistols at his head.

"Consider that a warning shot scum-bag," Falco growls, his trigger-finger tensing up. "I can shoot a soda can, dead center, from twenty-yards; and one guess as to where my sights are aimed now?"

The man growls.

"Hey Luca, you okay in there?" Colette asks.

"Fine. Sore, but fine." Lucario replies.

"Why do you four even care about this creature?" The old man asks, "He's just a Shadow Pokemon, but will become the weapon that leads me, the genius Shrivil, to world conquest!"

A laser bolt zaps the floor at his feet, getting him to yelp. Falco's other hand is aiming his second pistol at the ground; right where a smoking scorch mark is.

"Curious why your friend isn't out of his cage?" Shrivil asks, "Those bars are electrified. And better yet..."

Its only now that the smashers notice a small remote in his left hand. His thumb presses the only button on the device, but it causes bolts of lightning to zap into Lucario; getting him to scream in pain.

Shrivil presses the button again, turning off the bolts and letting Lucario slump into a groaning pile.

"You rotten bastard..." Blaze growls, igniting fires in her hands. Her very gaze, though, seems to be enough to make Shrivil burst into flames.

"Ah, ah, ah. I can turn those bolts back on. And if this remote should ever break...well, the fail-safe kicks in and Lucario is electrocuted 'till he stops living," Shrivil grins.

"You're a horrible man," Colette says.

"And big whoop de do about that stupid remote; I can snatch it before you even blink," Sonic taunts.

"Too bad I've already won," Shrivil replies, then gives a shrill whistle.

Immediately, purple spines rain down from the ceiling, forming a wall between Shrivil and the smashers. Several large, black-plumed birds follow after spines; quickly releasing horrible squawks and caws and making the smashers groan from the awful noise.

A few seconds after the cacophony starts, each smasher feels a big hand chop down on their back; flooring them in an instant. They feel smaller hands grab onto their wrists and pull their arms behind their respective backs before getting hefted back up to their feet.

They would've struggled against the grunts that were restraining them, but their heads ached from the blow of whatever chopped them in the first place. Stomping around them is another giant pokemon, this one resembling an extremely muscular human with dark-gray skin but with four arms instead of two. The Machamp stands beside Shrivil as a few Gliscor land beside their Honchkrow buddies.

"Like I said, I win," Shrivil gloats, "And to the victor go the spoils. You four aren't going to be returning home...

"...I'm going to shackle you all up, and then we'll talk. I will find whatever makes you angry, whatever wears down your patience, I'm going to crack your sanity."

Blaze, despite the throbbing pain in her arms and neck, snarls at the old man. "I'll save you the trouble, I'm looking right at what pisses me off. And you'd better throw me into a cell one-thousand times stronger than Lucario's, because otherwise I will get out. And my first job after breaking free is to burn you into a tiny pile of ash."

Shrivil doesn't really wince at her harsh words. Instead, a sinister smile crosses his face. "So much pent-up anger...and you definitely have the strength to back up those words...you might even make a better Shadow Creature than Lucario..."

Said pokemon snaps his head up at that last sentence. Blaze has already been through enough...there's no way he was going to let her fall into the same world he's in...but strangely something else seemed to be stirring inside him. Deep, deep inside of him...past the seal...he could feel some kind of power quickly building, almost like a burning desire...

This desire though, its not like the Shadows. The Shadows want to destroy, but this felt like the opposite...this is a desire to protect. As strange as it seemed to be...this Shadow Pokemon quickly became consumed with a desire to protect.

Lucario releases a low growl as the fur on the back of his neck pricks up. An enraged roar tears itself from his throat as his Shadow Claws spark into life. With a swing from each hand, the claws slash clear through the bars; reducing the electrified wall to rubble.

In a flurry of bluish-black, Lucario explodes from his cell in an Extremespeed blur; his aura charging the very air in the room. The blur emits several Aura Spheres; each of which slam against the Honchkrow and Gliscor, forcing the guards into a groaning slump. Once the pokemon are taking care of, the blur leaps into the air and disappears; rendering Lucario visible again.

The Cipher grunts start shaking when they see the hate-filled glare staring them down. The pokemon snarls before releasing an aura wave; perfectly aimed to slam into the grunts and knock them away from his friends.

Lucario lands between his friends and the Machamp that hurried to block their exit. Shrivil laughs as the Machamp pounds his chest, "You stubborn creature, still so resistant," Shrivil sneers, "I know however, that Steel-types are weak to Fighting-types and Machamp here is going to make sure you don't escape again."

The Shadow Pokemon angrily snarls.

"I see I'll have to instill a little control in you," Shrivil retorts.

Lucario takes a deep breath before retracting his claws. "You think...that you can break my spirit?" Lucario asks, his aura becoming visible and shrouding him in a deep-blue mist. "Then I dare you, control this!"

The pokemon rears back, and through the fog a yellow sphere can be seen forming near his mouth. As he snaps himself forward, his roar is drowned out by the deafening boom of Hyper Beam; the massive laser tearing itself across the room. The other smashers stare, wide-eyed, as the room is illuminated in bright yellow; watching the beam slam into the Machamp. The huge pokemon is lifted clear off its feet and slammed into a wall with a sickening thud.

...then a crash resonates as a large hole crumbles away behind the Machamp; allowing the pokemon to get blasted across the next room. Then through that wall, through another room, and finally one more wall before the Hyper Beam fizzles out; leaving behind not only a monstrous hole in the walls but pure-black scorch marks on the walls, floor, and ceiling...even some of the metal panels are torn from their spots and resting in a twisted pile near the first hole.

For a second or so, everyone just stares in disbelief. Even for Blaze and Falco, who've already seen his Hyper Beam before, the sheer power of the attack is just mind-numbing. However, unlike before in Mizuho where Lucario collapsed after using Hyper Beam, he isn't even showing signs of tiring.

He forms an Aura Sphere and hurls it at Shrivil; nailing the sinister man in the head and tossing him through the hole his Machamp made.

"Bastard..." Lucario snarls, then glances over his shoulder, "Save your cheers until we're outta here, lets go!"

His words jar the others back and they manage to follow the nimble pokemon through the exit door; but stop on the upper landing when they see what is awaiting them. Crowding the floor is a giant mob of Cipher grunts and various pokemon...but up in the air and glowing cobalt blue is Lucario.

The pokemon releases another snarl before flipping over and focusing his aura into a pulled-back fist.

Falco gasps as the pokemon starts to plummet, yelling out "Hold on!" The smashers manage to grab onto either the door-jam or the railing just before Lucario's fist collides with the floor; not only creating a crater but also sending out a shockwave that shakes the whole room and even causes the metal paneling to warp, crack, or shatter.

The tremors from his Fissure attack clears enough area around him for the pokemon to stand up and begin glowing blue again. His friends look down at him as the Cipher grunts start closing in around the pokemon.

Lucario's aura begins whipping itself into a frenzy, halting the advance. With a roar, his aura explodes outward...but suddenly stops and flashes into a dark lavender color; marked by five or six bands of yellow.

He begins charging forward; the aura bubble pushing...or more accurately, hurling away anything unlucky enough to get in its way. After carving a large streak through the crowd, Lucario leaps upward slamming his bubble against the wall. Amazingly, the very metal of the wall shreds itself apart on contact with the bubble and Lucario keeps on going. He hurtles onward, slamming into the glass shielding around the building, shattering it apart and allowing him to continue on to the cliff-top.

"Hurry up guys! Before they get back to their senses!" Sonic yells, leaping down from the railing. He lands and explodes forward; leaping through the hole Lucario made and landing beside his friend.

Blaze follows after the hedgehog while Colette grabs hold of Falco and flies him through the hole. Just as they touch down on the cliff, a sound similar to that of sirens fill the air, and after turning they see dozens of police cars blocking the normal exit to the base and crowd of black-clad people charging into the building.

Falco laughs at the sight, "That oughta take care of those dimwits for good. Never forget how useful speaker-phone is."

They turn around when they hear a groan and find Lucario looking at them. "You guys..." he sighs, but gives all of them a big smile...just before falling over backwards.

His friends gasp as the pokemon hits dirt, but Blaze is at his side in an instant and sighs in relief. "He's fine, just exhausted," she smiles. "But if he keeps scaring me like that, he won't be "just exhausted" for long."

The others chuckle before sighing in relief as well. "So shall we continue toward Agate?" Sonic asks.

"I'm all for it, but how are we gonna move Luca?" Falco asks, "Carry him?"

"Why not use their truck?" Colette asks, pointing to the nearby red truck.

Falco smirks before heading over to the truck, not even fazed by finding the door unlocked and the keys still in the ignition. He just laughs and rolls his eyes before hopping in and driving back to the others. "There's two more seats up here, any riders?" he asks after poking his head out the window.

Colette nods before walking around the truck and getting in on the other side.

"No thanks, I'll run." Sonic grins.

Blaze looks from Falco, down to Lucario, then back up at the vehicle.

"Hey Blaze?" Falco asks, getting her to look back at him. "Why don't cha ride with Luca in the back? You know, to keep him calm if he wakes up." None of the others seem to notice the wink that follows.

The feline nods before scooping Lucario into her arms, then loading him into the back of the truck. She climbs in after him and settles down as the truck starts moving.

Blaze smiles down at the sleeping pokemon, gently running a gloved hand down the side of his head. _'You're safe now Lucario,' _Blaze thinks, gently running her fingers through the fur around his spike, _'I was so worried about you...it was nice being able to pound on Cipher, but I'm happy enough having you back.'_

She suddenly yawns, then lies down beside Lucario. After snuggling up to his side and draping an arm over his chest, Blaze slips into sleep too...content beyond words to have Lucario back.

**

* * *

**

One quickie disclaimer before closing; I do not own the Hexagon Brothers. They are actual enemies in the game Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. And yes, they really are that stupid and they are property of Genius Sonority/The Pokemon Company/Nintendo. Shrivil, on the other hand, is my idea and thus my property; but I highly doubt he will ever appear again. Maybe referenced, but another appearance is unlikely.

**So Lucario was rescued from Cipher's clutches, now all that's left is to get him to the Relic Stone and everything will be okay, right? To know for sure, you'll have to wait for the next update!**


	33. Homeland Part Three

Chapter 33 Homeland Part 3

Lucario snaps upright with a gasp, clunking his forehead against something as he does so, then feels a wave of ache flow through his body. He groans while resting a paw to his head, wincing a little at the headache while his eyes do their best to bring focus to the world around him.

"You alright? Ah, geez, your skull is hard." asks a voice that gets him to turn around. Blaze is sitting just behind him, rubbing at a spot on her forehead.

"Bones as tough as steel. And yea, I'm alright," Lucario replies. "Sore, but good."

"That's a relief, after napping for almost ten hours, I'd hope you'd have your strength back."

"Its been that long?" Lucario asks in disbelief, "Ah, and I'm still sore? Never going to use Hyper Beam, Fissure, and Giga Impact in quick succession again."

"Giga Impact?"

"Similar to Hyper Beam, but instead of releasing the energy, I let it surround me as a bubble. Same price though, it exhausts you after performing it," Lucario explains, "Even now I can still feel a little tired."

"You're welcome to settle back into your pillow if you want."

Lucario tilts his head, not understanding what she was talking about.

Blaze smiles and pats her lap, "You napped almost the whole time in my lap."

Lucario glances away; half-mumbling, half-stuttering something. His eyes widen when Blaze gently grabs him by the shoulder and draws him back into a lying position. "If you're still tired, go ahead and rest. I don't mind," she finishes with a flirty wink.

Inwardly Lucario admitted she was right about thing, he didn't feel as bad lying down as sitting up, but still...he's in a girl's lap for Arceus' sake! And a cute one at that!

"...just until I get my strength back," Lucario pouts, giving in. "Do you think you could rub my right shoulder though? I think I messed it up punching the metal floor so hard."

The princess only smiles before beginning on his shoulder. Not even a second could pass before a content look spreads across Lucario's face. "That better?" Blaze asks after working on it for a minute.

"Much," He replies, then waits a few seconds before asking, "So...what was it that you wanted to tell me? Before those Cipher idiots barged in?"

Blaze inaudibly gulps before answering, "It wasn't important."

"You were stuttering when you tried to say it though. Doesn't that mean that its important?"

"R-really Lucario, it was nothing."

"You just stuttered again."

"You just can't take a hint can you?" Blaze rhetorically asks, "Fine...Lucario...I. I'm really glad you decided to trust Krane." Inwardly she scolds herself for lying.

"Really?" Lucario asks, unsold.

"Yea. I mean, trainers haven't made your life easy at all, so I'm proud of you to trust one enough for help."

"Then I hate saying this, but I don't trust him. Not completely anyway. I'm even surprised I chose to come back here early," Lucario says.

Now its Blaze's turn to ask, "Really?"

"Yup. But I thought about things. I thought about what it was like to be burdened like this. I thought about how much I wanted to be free again. Even with that hope, I almost refused coming back here. That's when I realized something," Lucario sighs, "I owed it to everyone. I owed everyone back at that mansion a chance; a chance to lose the corrupted me and gain a real person."

"Lucario..."

"I had to repay the pain I gave them when I attacked in Altamira...but beyond that...I needed to give them a chance to meet the person they thought I was," Lucario pauses, looking up into the sky, "After the Subspace Incident is when I began to open up to the others. I began joining in on the football games, the marathon games of Smash Band, even making friends. Looking back at it all...I realize that they really did think of me as a person. As family. The least I can do for them, after all that, is to give them a chance to meet the person they think I was."

"That's very noble of you Lucario," Blaze says, admiring him.

"Yea, I guess. Though, you're the reason I even realized that."

"Me?" Blaze asks, blushing slightly.

"Yea, I thought about you. I thought about everything you've done for me in the little time we've been together. I realized I owed you the most; if there's any reason why I'm even here right now, its for you. I just...I...I want to be the guy you think I am."

He feels shoulder get abandoned and his cheeks get cupped. Blaze leans into his view, looking down at him with a proud smile on her face. "You already are."

Lucario only watches as she leans down closer and closer; her eyes watching his. Soon she's close enough for him to feel her exhales on his nose. Time seems to slow down as their faces get closer and closer...her lips are just a hair away from his forehead...

Then a loud yawn causes Blaze to jerk away; her face glowing red. As she hides herself with a hand, Lucario looks over to find the source of the disturbance. Falco stretches before hopping up to his feet, wiping sleep from his eyes.

The avian looks over and smirks at the two, then trots over and looks down at the pokemon. "Comfy?"

Lucario glares daggers at his friend before sitting upright.

"Hey, don't let me interrupt this."

"There wasn't anything to interrupt," Blaze grunts, looking at him; all traces of blush gone.

"Didn't look that way to me," Falco replies, winking at them. A glare from the feline gets him to wince and put his hands up in surrender, "A'ight, I get it. Samus taught me the hard way to keep out of a lady's business."

Lucario strains to his feet and shakes away a little dizziness that comes with it. "Wake up the others, I'm eager to end this living nightmare," he says, waving a paw at the sleeping hedgehog and angel.

In barely a minute the gang is riding along towards Agate, hardly another could pass before the village comes into view. Such a beautiful place it is, the whole town resembling a giant emerald from the lush grass that blanketed it.

Falco stops the truck at the entrance to the village, a simple plank bridge across a gurgling river, formed by a waterfall and ending in another; the water keeping the village confined to a bumpy mountainside. To the left; a sheer drop masked in wispy fog and giving the illusion that the village rests on clouds. To the right; even taller mountains, where the river begins and stretching up into the clouds and beyond the horizon.

"Dang, didn't realize how high up we were," Sonic comments, looking down at the fog. "The air's so clean up here too."

The others take in deep breaths of the fresh air, sighing as the scent of dew fills their lungs. As they look closer, they can see many people ambling back and forth on the multiple levels of the village...and on closer look, many of them seem to be elderly folks.

One in particular is waiting on the other side of the bridge; a surprisingly imposing man, despite the countless wrinkles on his face and a gray beard that stretches to his waist. His hair tumbles down to the same area on him and seems even more gray than his beard; the same color present in his eyebrows, which are the size of Lucario's paws. His aqua-green and lavender, kimono-like robes rustle as he hurries across the bridge.

"Oh my, I was beginning to worry when the sun started setting," he says, "But I see now that I shouldn't have, you are Smashers after all."

"Well, here ya go gramps. Consider it a gift," Falco says, tossing the truck keys to him. The old man catches them quite easily.

"Thank you, but I'm not seeing too well at this age. And my name isn't 'gramps,' I am Eagun; the oldest resident of this village and the leader of this place as well. I'm sure that Krane has filled you in, so if you all will be kind enough to follow me; we can get this ceremony over with."

"Uhh, before we go, there aren't any trainers here, right?" Colette asks.

Eagun turns around and smiles at the young girl. "A great deal of this town are pokemon trainers. However, we've all had our glory days come and go and have long since retired. I myself was a great trainer, one of the best. Still have battles every now and then, but don't worry; I doubt I could last long against you." He directs the 'you' towards Lucario, but says it more out of admiration than envy.

Lucario only nods at the old man before following after his friends into the village. They hike up one hill, down to the shores of the river, then into a cave. They trek along in the surprisingly well lit tunnel, ducking under massive roots that erupt from the roof before burrowing into the walls. A few times they even hear the trickling of small streams running alongside them.

After a short trek the smashers plus Eagun emerge in a large chamber that's open to the sky. Sprouting up all around them are massive trees, stretching upwards to pierce the sky and so lush with leaves they resemble tremendous green arrows. A thick green carpet of grass covers all the ground not occupied by a tree, but the group is standing on an elevated stone platform.

Standing in the center of the chamber is a roughly seven-foot tall column of dark gray, granite resembling stone. It isn't a perfect cylinder however, having "quarters" of it bulge out at random places and at random heights; the whole thing gives the monument a bizarre "patched together" look to it.

"So that's the special rock?" Falco remarks, looking at the pillar.

"That's it. The Relic Stone that has been the source of freedom for dozens of Shadow Pokemon," Eagun proudly states.

"Is it why this place is so vibrant?" Colette asks. "I don't think I've seen any trees so healthy looking."

"Indeed. The Relic Stone is constantly emitting an energy that rejuvenates life. That's why there are so many elderly here; this stone's energy makes life a little easier for us," Eagun answers, "Its this same energy that is capable of chasing away the shadows and freeing you." He turns to look at Lucario while saying 'you.'

Lucario audibly exhales before stepping forward. He gently nudges his way through the crowd, but holds back when Eagun clears his throat. "Lucario, you do know that this is a shot in the dark, right? Try not to be too disappointed if this doesn't work."

"I've had a record of crappy luck. If this doesn't work, I won't be surprised in the least," Lucario replies before continuing to the stone.

As the pokemon approaches, the stone begins to glow a deep, lush green. He holds out a hand and rests it to the rock's smooth, slightly warm surface. The glow tries to climb up Lucario's arm, but his own pitch-black aura appears and blocks it.

The two auras begin fighting with one another, the green shoving forward only to get pushed back by the black. Slowly though, the green glow begins to win out; forcing the black further and further away. Finally, with one mighty shove, the green aura flows underneath the black aura and bursts outward; scattering the darker fog into thousands of tiny particles.

With the dark dispelled, the green aura begins to frantically swirl around the pokemon, forcing his eyes to shut. The healing light speeds up; generating a wind that begins lashing outward and blowing on the loose clothes and hair of the watching crowd.

Just as quickly as it sped up, the light suddenly gets absorbed into Lucario's body. He violently twitches before another dark cloud gets expelled from his body; then he quickly falls down to one knee, groaning in pain.

Before anyone could ask if he's okay, the thousands of dark motes gather alongside the Relic Stone; forming a black sphere that is disturbingly similar to the Subspace portals of so long ago.

Everybody gasps as the sphere suddenly morphs into a silhouette of Lucario; then snarls as it gains just enough color to become a black-and-white version of said pokemon. Its eyes are the same pure-red that Lucario's become when he's a Shadow Pokemon; nothing but a white ring to distinguish iris from the "white."

Shadow Lucario roars before charging at the crowd, only for the real Lucario to slug it in the gut with a Mega Punch; embedding it into a tree about five feet away.

"What the hell is that?" Sonic gasps, watching as the shadow pulls itself free and launches two small Aura Spheres. Lucario snipes both of the attacks with Aura Spheres of his own.

"I...I don't know. Nothing like this has happened before," Eagun admits.

"New or not, that thing's going down!" Falco yells, whipping out both pistols and firing at the dark pokemon like a maniac.

Just as Blaze charges up a fireball and Colette brandishes her chakrams, a wave of _blue_ aura slams down at the feet of the smashers. Lucario lands between them and his shadow.

"You all. Leave," he grunts, launching an Aura Sphere to counter one from his doppelganger.

"What?" Blaze shrieks.

"You're nuts Luca!" Falco adds, "We can help!"

They hear a roar and see the shadow charging at them; Shadow Claws out. Lucario snarls before brandishing his and charging as well; locking his claws with his foe's. The real pokemon digs in his heels to hold the copy at bay.

"This is NOT up for discussion. Get out NOW!" Lucario yells, the headbutts his shadow to stun it before blasting it with a pulse of aura, "Guard the door. Make sure it doesn't get out!"

With that said, Lucario leaps into the air and tries to bring a Mega Punch down on his foe's head, only to slam the ground when it leaps out of the way.

"He's not going to give us a choice," Eagun says, herding the other smashers to the door, "And if that...thing is as powerful as he is, Lucario may be the only one with enough power to destroy it."

Reluctantly, the other four leave the chamber, the last they see of the battle being a billowing cloud of smoke caused by the collision of two fully-charged Aura Spheres.

From the cloud of smoke bursts Shadow Lucario, its claws back. It takes a mighty swing, only to miss as Lucario leaps backward; back-flipping in midair and firing off three Aura Spheres. Two miss as the shadow contorts away, but the third blasts loose a large branch above the dark pokemon. Sadly, Shadow Lucario dodges the effort with an Extremespeed; stopping behind the normal Lucario and hitting him in the back with an Aura Sphere.

Lucario grunts in pain as the attack tosses him into a tree, but without skipping a beat he rolls to the side. Lucky for him as Shadow Claws quickly embed into the trunk where his head was. The real pokemon quickly peppers his dark half with a Bullet Punch barrage before hitting him square in the jaw with a Mega Punch.

Shadow Lucario goes flying from the blow, landing a few feet away. However it stands up as if nothing happened; even shoving its jaw back into place with a disgusting crack. It glares at Lucario for a second before rushing back and forth in a line; creating a wall of Double Team illusions.

Lucario roars before sending an aura wave at the crowd; forcing his copy to stop and leap into the air. Just as he wanted.

In a split-second, Lucario goes rocketing towards his shadow thanks to Extremespeed. He grabs it by the throat, does several back-flips to build up power, then hurls the shadow into the ground; letting it suffer a Seismic Toss in all its earth-shaking glory.

Lucario tries to follow up with a Fissure, but the shadow, somehow, manages to get up and dart away; leaving Lucario to cancel his attack and keep from wasting energy. He has to land a little awkwardly though, giving his shadow an opportunity it took; rushing past and using Shadow Claw to give the real pokemon three crimson slashes on his left arm.

He gasps and clutches the wound before glaring at the shadow; smirking at the wound it caused. Lucario rears back, then whips forward, breathing out a pocket of charged aura fog. Shadow Lucario uses an Aura Sphere to destroy the cloud before charging forward, slamming Lucario with a Shadow Rush, then following up with a close range Shadow Wave.

The two attacks hurl Lucario into a tree, but he manages to recover in time to see Shadow Lucario rushing forward again; using Extremespeed. Lucario mimics his copy, and in perfect unison they extend their claws and lock them together again. The two struggle for an advantage for a second when the shadow smirks at the lighter counterpart.

"It will be fun destroying your friends," it sneers, causing Lucario's eyes to narrow and a blast of aura to slam the shadow in the face.

"You leave them alone!" he roars, clocking the shadow with two Mega Punches and then an Aura Sphere.

The shadow pulls off another miraculous recovery and swings its claws around again; leaving three more cuts on Lucario's stomach. Then contorts away from a punch, grabs the pokemon by the wrist, and throws him into a tree.

With a roar Lucario comes bursting from the tree, a gigantic Aura Sphere in his hands, which he shoves into the dark pokemon's stomach and letting it detonate at close range. Once again the shadow is sent flying, this time through a few trees, and Lucario shakes off the debris his attack blasted at him before charging after the sinister creature.

He can't reach his doppelganger in time though. Shadow Lucario manages to pull off a Shadow Blast; an attack that sends Lucario hurtling backwards. As the sharp blades of aura claw and tear at him, they wrench pained screams from him while leaving behind innumerable scratches all across him.

The attack lets up and Lucario shakes off the damage before charging forward yet again. His copy is rushing forward again, this time in a Shadow Rush, and Lucario has just enough time to form a pocket of aura in his palm and hold his hand forward.

Shadow Lucario's face hits the condensed aura and gets blasted backward through the power of Force Palm; but physics plays fair and gave Lucario a fair amount of punishment too. As the aura bursts, Lucario could hear a bad-sounding snap from somewhere in his arm, which is quickly followed by a searing pain.

He bites his lip to hold back the curses, mentally forces away the pain of his broken arm, and continues the charge. Using his good arm, he forms a bubble of aura around his fist and pulls it back; aiming to slam the shadow with an aura-charged Mega Punch.

Just as he brings the fist forward, he can see his copy form an Aura Sphere in its hands and swing it in from below. With all the momentum in this equation, nothing could stop what was going to happen.

Lucario's aura punch meets it mark perfectly, but the Aura Sphere gets shoved into his chest anyway; exploding and sending the pokemon hurtling away; through several trees and finally tumbling through the grass to a stop.

Apparently his copy kept the "more-damage-taken, more-damage-dealt" trait, because this last attack packed in so much more pain than the others. This time Lucario's fully aware of the damage, and Arceus above did it hurt. Somewhere along the line, his tail hit something and now half of it is numb while the other half is throbbing in pain. He can feel his ribcage and it seems like not a single rib is intact...but worst is his chest spike.

The Aura Sphere detonated right on it, and slammed it with so much power that the point snapped clean off. All that's left is a dull stub poking out from his fur; oozing red and shrieking so loudly in pain that Lucario could barely think clearly.

He can hear footsteps and sees Shadow Lucario standing over him, glaring evilly. The dark pokemon reaches down and grabs the crippled one by his throat; lifting him up and slamming him against the rock wall of the chamber.

Lucario whimpers in pain, then screams as his shadow drags him across the surface a few feet; leaving his back marked with horrible looking scrapes. Through the deluge of pain, Lucario can see his dark half looking straight into his eyes.

"Only that cursed stone has any power over me and even it wasn't enough to destroy me," it says, its voice a horrible, twisted mockery of his own. "Pity you won't live long enough to see what I'll do to your friends. I'm expecting a wonderful scream from the feline...she'll be fun to carve up," it mocks, pulling back its free hand and forming Shadow Claws.

In the next instant, images began to flash through his mind. Images of the other smashers...of his family...memories of his time with them began to play in quadruple fast-forward, but somehow hang around just long enough for him to recognize them.

Olimar sighing in relief as his lost white pikmin hopped off the pokemon's shoulder. Meta's obvious but invisible grin as a spar ended in an honorable draw. DK's hand outstretched, offering help when real-world training left him on his back. Marth laughing after an aura pulse left Ike's face covered in pudding.

He could almost hear Samus as she cried; the memories of her dead family overpowering her will. He could practically feel the breeze rushing through his fur as he ran alongside Sonic. That miniscule flutter in his sealed heart when he saw Blaze's face for the first time just barely managed to come through once more.

...then came something new...everyone, even the hands, gathered around a gravestone. All weeping, all dressed in black; everyone, even the most hardened among them like Ganon or Bowser, shedding tears over the devastation that happened. Immediately Lucario understood...that was _his_ grave they were paying respect to.

That image...the look of pure sorrow on their faces as they mourned...it awoke a pain inside of Lucario he had never felt before. This one singular feeling washed away everything else; sweeping his wounds, his self-pity, everything that had weighed him down far away. It almost felt as if something inside him was tearing itself apart; so disheartened and ashamed of the sorrow it brought, that it wanted to destroy itself...then he figured it out...

...his heart was crying. The shadows weren't there anymore, it was free at last...but began tearing itself apart over the inevitable sorrow.

_'No...I'm not going to give them a reason to cry,'_ Lucario thought, _'I won't hurt them...I...refuse...to hurt them!'_

Out of the pain, the pain of hurting his family, a tremendous power blossomed from his heart; surging out like a tidal wave and supercharging every part of him.

The Shadow Pokemon gasps as it release Lucario, watching the battered pokemon shakily get to his feet; his entire body glowing a pure white. "If I'm going to die here...you're going to die first!" he roars, just as beam of pure white erupts from his damaged chest spike.

The beam emits a glow so bright, even Hyper Beam seemed dim in comparison, outshining and submerging everything around in pure white. The attack slams against the Shadow Pokemon and shoves it backward; snapping the trees in the way easier than DK snaps a toothpick.

The attack slams against the opposite wall, pinning the shadow against it for a full ten seconds before finally dying out; leaving behind a scorched trail, uprooted trees tossed like tissues, and a Shadow Pokemon embedded one foot deep in the rock.

Shadow Lucario groans before prying himself free, then ungracefully toppling to the ground. It manages to lift itself up just in time for Lucario to grab its throat and start dragging it back to the Relic Stone.

The shadow hisses and claws at the hand around its throat, cutting up the fingers, but failing at gaining freedom. Lucario snarls before lifting his shadow up and slamming it against the Relic Stone. The rock's green glow returns and begins washing over the dark pokemon, making it scream in pain.

It focuses its red eyes on the lighter copy of itself, watching as orange eyes look back with pure hatred; somehow peering through the ever-reddening coat of their owner. "I promised myself...to never let you...harm anyone else..." Lucario grunts, his strength ebbing away once again.

"You...were always weak!" the shadow retorts, flailing as the green aura begins to seep into it.

"I'm stronger than you," Lucario replies, enduring the shadow's final scream as it and the rock's aura explode into a cloud of green and black specks. The green specks begin flying around, colliding with the black ones and forcing both out of existence. In barely a second the whole cloud is gone, leaving a battle-scarred and bloody pokemon to fall to his knees.

"...and stay gone..." he grunts, falling to his side; not even feeling the rock slam against his arm.

Just before he slips into unconsciousness he can hear the horrified screams of his friends as they rush in. After that; nothing but a mute, numb blackness.

**

* * *

**

And that is probably the biggest cliff-hanger I've ever written. Sorry for the long delay, but hopefully this chapter makes up for it! See ya next time!


	34. Recovery

**Sorry for the long wait, but there are a great many other things going on in my life that demanded attention. And to be honest, I'm putting this story on pause. I need to change gears and work on something else. This story isn't getting canceled, oh no, I just need a break from Smash Brothers, and this chapter seemed like a good enough breaking spot.**

* * *

Chapter 34 Recovery

Lucario's eyes struggle to open themselves; but when they do, he can see a gray void surrounding him in all directions. His feet don't seem to be touching anything solid...but it didn't quite feel like he was floating either.

"Where am I?" he asks aloud, not expecting anyone to answer. So when a voice says, "You're safe," he gasps and quickly whips around...then rubs his eyes to make sure what he was seeing wasn't an illusion.

Three other Lucario are standing mere feet from him; one is taller than the rest, and has a scar over the left eye, the second has a blue that is more sky-blue than the normal cobalt, and the third has the same blue, but is the shortest out of the three. Lucario instantly knows who they are...his family. His mom, dad, and sister.

"You're safe," the tall, scarred one repeats; smiling at his son.

"My little boy's been through so much on his own," his mother, the taller of the sky-blue Lucario, weeps, "I'm so sorry we couldn't be there to help."

"No, no mom...please don't cry," Lucario says.

"He's grown up so much too...oh, I wish I could've seen it all." she says.

"B-but you're here now!" Lucario says.

"No, we're not," his sister replies. "You still have a life to get back to. We've been done for almost two decades."

Lucario opens his mouth to say something, but is interrupted when his dad says, "Don't forget about us, and live your life the way you want to."

Lucario tries to reach out for them, but a sudden, white flash of light forces his eyes closed.

* * *

Lucario quickly snaps upright with a sudden gasp; then snarls as pain sears throughout his body. His vision is blurry, his mouth is dry, he aches all over, it feels like every bone in his body is split in two, and his skull feels about three-times too big for his head.

Despite the disorientation, the pokemon can feel a comfortable mattress beneath him, a light sheet over his legs, and hands gently pushing him back down.

"Shh," Colette's voice gently coos, "You're still hurt, you need to stay in bed."

"Co-Colette?" Lucario asks, blinking as his vision tries to refocus. It eventually does, and he can see the angel sitting in a chair at his bedside, smiling at him as her bright blue eyes twinkle in happiness.

"I'm so glad you're awake. W-When we found you...well..."

"That bad?"

Colette nods, looking away from the pokemon as if she was upset to break the bad news to him. "Even Doc was surprised at how badly injured you were. He even doubted that you'd...make it."

That came as a surprise...Doc is a miracle worker, there had never been any injury he couldn't heal up and restore to one-hundred-percent. For him to have been injured so badly even Doc thought it could be fatal, that was almost unthinkable.

"You've been out for almost a week. We'd almost given up..."

Lucario, unintentionally, laughs. "You thought you could get rid of me so easily?"

"Yea, we should've known better," Colette admits, a few giggles escaping her mouth.

Lucario takes a deep breath, wincing as his chest surges with pain as a result, but he still manages to take a look around. He'd never been in one of the infirmary's recovery rooms before, and its a surprisingly calm place. Gentle white walls surround him, a few chairs are scattered around the room, and a large window is over on his right; looking out over the sprawling field behind the mansion.

He looks around a little more and finds a night-stand resting on his left. Crammed onto its surface are so many flowers and trinkets that he couldn't even see the top of the table. Sitting on top of everything is a large red card that looked as if it was hand made.

Curious, Lucario tries to reach for it, but winces as pain shoots up his arm and gives up. Colette notices, however, and smiles while picking up the card and holding it in front of him.

Crookedly glued on the front is a pink paper heart, with the words "Get Well Soon!" written on it in large letters. Colette opens the card and Lucario gasps at was waiting for him...

Signatures. Dozens of signatures, each accompanied with a small note along the lines of "Congrats!" or "I missed you!" Every single smasher in the mansion, even the hands, signed this card for him.

"I...Ev-Everyone was worried about me?" Lucario asks, "They were all worried about me? And glad I'm okay?"

"Where did you think all these gifts came from?" Colette asks, closing the card and putting it back.

"I...I don't even..." Suddenly Lucario can feel something odd...it felt as if some tiny wet object slipped out of his eye and began sliding down the fur on the side of his muzzle.

Then another wet object slides out of his other eye. Then more come. That's when he realizes...he's crying. He felt so touched over everyone's concern that he couldn't stop crying! And once he discovered that his heart really was back...the sprinkling turned into a deluge of tears.

Before Colette could even open her mouth, Lucario has lunged forward and grabbed her in a hug; sobbing onto her shoulder. "Colette! I can feel again! My heart's back! My heart is BACK!" he cheers through the tears, ignoring the pain rolling through his whole body.

Colette grins and returns his hug, gently patting his back while he sobbed in happiness. "I'm so happy for you Luca!"

Lucario sniffles a little, sighing as Colette leans him back into the bed. "Everything seems so much more...alive now," he remarks. "Its such a wonderful change from what I lived in for years."

"I'm sure it is. But Doc's got the last word on when you can finally leave and enjoy it," she admits. "I'll go spread the good news. You rest."

With that, Colette hops up and practically skips out of the room, humming happily over her friend's recovery. Lucario chuckles at her, then goes backs to reveling in his new life.

He looks down at himself, finding bandages wrapped tightly around his entire torso. He can also see a cast around his right arm, holding everything from wrist to elbow still. His left arm is resembling one found on a mummy, and he's sure there's plenty of bandages on his tail, legs, and head; but can't sum up the strength to check.

Soon a muffled roar seeps up from the floor; no doubt the cheering of everyone over his awakening. Lucario smiles before nestling back into his pillow and going back to sleep.

* * *

Barely an hour could pass before he's jarred awake again, this time because of the sounds of a scuffle outside his room. He looks just in time to see the door burst open and Meta walk in, his boots clinking on the tile floor.

The tiny knight hops into the chair that Colette was in, then up onto the bed. He watches the pokemon for a few minutes before his eyes suddenly glow blue.

"Forgive me Lucario," he says, bowing to the pokemon.

"Meta?"

"It was my foolishness that got you into this state...all because I lost faith in one of my dearest friends."

"These injuries aren't your fault Meta, its fine."

"No, it is not. I used to brag about you to the crew of the Halberd. I was proud to know the wandering knight Lucario, and deeply honored to call him a friend. Do you remember our battle atop Mt. Hyouchuu during the Incident? Every attack I dodged never weakened your will. Every attack I landed only made you more determined to win. In the end, I was defeated by your fathomless strength...but you showed nobility and kindness by releasing me from trophy form.

"I shouldn't have lost my faith in a warrior such as you...but after what happened in Altamira, I'm ashamed to say I did. I lost sight of my friend and turned my back on him when he needed support; something a knight should not have done in the first place, regardless of whether he was a friend or not. I'll understand if you refuse, but please...forgive this foolish old man."

"I'd smack you for being so dense, if I could move my arms," Lucario grunts, getting Meta to look up. "I just got my heart back, why the hell would I shove a friend away?"

Meta tilts his head...err, body in confusion. "So...we are still friends?"

"Great friends."

"Then may I make a request?"

"Go ahead."

Meta unsheathes Galaxia and points it at Lucario. "Once you have finished recovering, I challenge you to a re-match. If you really were burdened in our mountain-top battle, I want to be the first to fight you without your cursed restraints."

Lucario smirks, "Just get ready for a pounding."

The two stare each other down before sharing a few laughs while Meta puts his sword away. Just as the small knight turns to leave, Lucario clears his throat. "It will get kind of boring here, lying around all day. You mind stopping by every now and then? Maybe play a few chess games?"

Meta's eyes seem to flicker eagerly at the mention of chess. "I shall, but we won't be as evenly matched as a true battle."

"You're right, I'll go easy on you."

The two share one last laugh before Meta departs, leaving Lucario to return to his rest.

* * *

"Well, its been two weeks since you first came in, and I must say, you've healed quite a lot in that time," Doc says, reading off a clipboard in his hands. "You're in no shape to fight, but I doubt I can keep you in bed much longer...at least not with how fast your strength is returning."

"So I'm allowed to leave?" Lucario asks.

"Providing you don't do anything too strenuous. And I want you to come right back here if your condition worsens."

Lucario nods.

"Alright then, you're free to go," Doc says, gesturing at the door.

Lucario smiles before casting the blankets off his body, then slowly swinging his legs around and standing up. Over the past week, virtually all of his bandages have been removed; a few stragglers on his chest are all that's left. His arm cast has even downgraded to a simple sling...but one thing remains disturbingly unchanged; his chest spike. It hasn't grown back in the least...the only improvement being that its no longer sore to the touch.

He stands still for a few seconds before taking a single, shaky step. Then a few more just to wake up his legs before the pokemon proudly walks out of the room.

Judging by the clocks, he guesses that lunch is about halfway done. At least he knew where everyone was, which made the inevitable reintroduction all the easier. The slightly wounded pokemon carefully makes his way downstairs, goes even slower on the grand staircase, then finally stands in the doorway to the kitchen.

All the pokemon does is clear his throat, and in mere seconds he's surrounded by a chattering, cheering crowd. Though all the noises are garbled together, everyone seems to be congratulating him for recovering from his injuries, getting his heart back, and remarking on the remaining damage.

"Alright, alright guys, thank you," Lucario laughs. "But could you move? I'm kinda hungry."

Immediately the crowd parts to let the pokemon over to the buffet. A majority of the crowd return to their places and resume eating, but Lucario's friends all pick up and move to where the pokemon seats himself.

He smiles at all of them as they sit, "You all seem so much more real with emotions." A few chuckles run through the crowd before Lucario notices something...or more accurately, someone, absent. "Where's Blaze?"

His friends exchange worried glances. "We don't really know," Sonic admits.

Lucario tilts his head in curiosity.

"Ever since we found ya after the fight, and brought ya back, she's been acting...weird," Falco says.

"She's gotten quiet, kinda reclusive. Didn't really speak much either." Shiek adds.

"My guess is that she's just worried herself sick over you," Lloyd states, "Once she sees that you're up and about, Blaze'll turn right back into her old self."

Lucario smiles and nods in agreement, but begins eating without another word.

Lunch passes for the pokemon surprisingly fast, and he bids his friends farewell before wandering off into the mansion in search of the feline. He checks the study, but only finds Ganon sitting there; idly sipping a soda while reading some novel. He goes and checks the arcade; just the kids of the mansion playing Smash Band. He goes and knocks on her room's door. Nothing happens, even after waiting for ten minutes.

He sighs before giving up, the sheer size of this mansion made finding Blaze a chore he didn't have the energy to do. Even trying to process the aura patterns that would be everywhere to find her would be too much of a strain. Reluctantly he gives in and heads for the lounges, aiming to just rest the whole afternoon and find her at dinner.

He makes it to the movie closet and bumps, literally, into an unexpected person; Samus. "Lucario!" she gasps, quickly offering a hand to the toppled pokemon. "I didn't know you were out!"

"Just got out not even an hour ago," he replies, grabbing her hand with his good one and pulling himself up.

"You okay? You still look a little dinged."

"Nothing resting won't fix," Lucario says, "Got any suggestions for what movies to waste an afternoon on?"

Samus, surprisingly, smiles at the pokemon before picking up the movies she dropped when colliding with him. "You can watch these with me if you want. Aile, Ashe and I have the afternoon off from Clashes; they won't mind a fourth."

Her offer sounds much better than rooting through the shelves of movies to find some, so Lucario politely accepts and steps away for her to pass. "After you."

"The same gentleman you always were," Samus states, then...giggles? She's acting a lot girlier, for lack of better terms, than usual today. "I like your eyes. They're a lot more welcoming now."

"Hmm?"

Samus opens up one of the cases, removes the disc, and holds the shiny side up to Lucario. "See? They aren't bloody red anymore. Now they're an orangy-red, like a sunset's."

Lucario smiles as she puts the makeshift mirror away and starts to turn for the door, but pauses when he feels a hand rest on his shoulder. His eyes glide up the hand's arm to meet with Samus' deep-blue ones.

"I'm really glad that you're okay," she says, the tiniest hint of a smile curling her lips.

"I didn't know I meant that much to you."

"I can trust you with all my secrets, that means more than you'll ever realize," she replies, "I was actually a little scared that you might not make it...its frightening seeing someone important to you so close to the edge."

Lucario bows his head to her, then his eyes snap open when he feels a pair of lips on his forehead. "S-Samus?" he stutters, looking up at her in surprise.

"I think coming back from the brink of death earns a kiss," she winks, "But if you tell _anyone_ about that, you'll have to spend a _month_ in that recovery room."

Lucario actually laughs at her threat. "That's more like the Samus I know. Don't worry, its safe with me."

Samus rolls her eyes before leading the pokemon to her waiting lounge. Lucario doesn't catch it, but she glances back over her shoulder and smiles for a second before looking ahead again. _'I'm so glad you're back. This mansion and everyone in it just wouldn't be the same without you around.'_

* * *

The movies end around five, and the pokemon bids the women farewell before trudging upstairs to the sky-lounge. He plops himself down in the semi-circular couch, kicks his feet up on the table, and watches the setting sun paint the sky in reds and oranges.

For a few seconds, he just admires how much his life changed...like he suddenly went from a black-and-white, silent world to one full of color and vibrant sound. However, the pokemon gets a firm snap back to reality as a blue blur races in and stops in front of him.

"There you are!" Sonic exclaims, grabbing his good arm and pulling Lucario from the couch. "Come on, I got something to show you!"

"Sonic not now. I just want to relax until dinner," Lucario protests. No luck, the hedgehog continues pulling the pokemon along.

"Tough, you're gonna see this, even if I have to carry you there!" Sonic replies.

The spiky speedster leads the pokemon around corner after corner, finally stopping outside the ballroom doors. He gives Lucario a gentle push from behind. "Its just in there."

Lucario decides to humor his friend and go inside, finding the room's lights out. "Sonic you better not-"

"SURPRISE!" is yelled as the lights flash on, startling the pokemon and toppling him to his backside.

After the shock wears off, and accepting help up from Luigi, the pokemon looks around. There's confetti and streamers dangling from the ceiling, bright colored cone hats on virtually every head, a giant table loaded with punch bowls and snacks, and several chairs spread around the room.

The confused pokemon looks at the smiling faces in front of him. "What is this?"

"Whaddya mean 'what is this?'" Falco laughs, "Dude, we're throwing you a birthday party!"

"A wh-what?"

As if to emphasize Falco's point, the crowd bursts into a cheer of "Happy Birthday Lucario!"

"B-but...my birthday was like...two weeks ago."

"Well, this is your new birthday Lucario," Peach chimes, "Celebrating your freedom!"

"And besides, Happy Birthday Slash Congrats for Getting Your Heart Back, just sounded too weird," Popo adds.

Lucario smiles at all the faces and heaves a sigh, "You guys didn't really have to do this."

"Oh yes we did," Sonic says, patting his friend on the back, "You're here, you're recovering, and you've busted through that nasty lock on your heart. I say that's reason enough to celebrate! And on top of that, now you've got a reason to like your birthday again!"

Without even waiting for input from the pokemon, Link yells to ROB, who starts the music, and the crowd quickly absorbs Lucario into its mass; each smasher taking a turn to give Lucario some form of congrats, whether a hand-shake, a pat on the shoulder, or (with a few of the women) a gentle hug.

Once the congrats are over and done with, Lucario gets swept up into the conversations and laughter; enjoying it all so much more with emotions. A whole hour passes by in an instant, and the pokemon is presented with two wrapped boxes.

"We know you can't really accept much, since you're a wanderer," Colette admits, handing one of the bright boxes to the pokemon, "But these should work."

Using his good arm's spike, Lucario slices through the ribbon and wrapping paper, then flicks the box open. He pulls a very nice looking, one-shoulder backpack from it; attired in a sleek black waterproof fabric with orange highlights.

"I know you like that sack of yours, but it looks ready to fall apart," Fox admits, "This will hold together for a long time and help keep your stuff organized."

"Thank you guys," Lucario says, setting the backpack off to the side. Then going after the next box. After slicing this one open, out comes a wide-brimmed, deep-blue traveler's hat with notches cut in the brim for his ears to fit through.

"Now when it rains, you won't get soaked," Zelda smiles, "Plus it'll look very good on you."

"Thanks," Lucario says, returning the smile, then handing his gifts to Mew to get put away. As the tiny pokemon flies off with the objects, plus the key to his room, Falco lets out a whoop and the music kicks back on, causing the party to return to its former state: fun and wild.

Lucario smiles at the wonderful party everyone threw for him, but when he takes in the view through aura-sight, he notices that one certain aura pattern isn't present...but a quick peek out the door and down the hall reveals a trail that it left.

Slipping out of his own party may seem weird, but this is a special occasion. Luckily, even with some bandages on his person, sneaking away is no problem, and in a matter of seconds he's heading up the stairway to the roof.

The owner of the aura field is sitting on one of the ducts, distantly staring up into the sky. Lucario watches her from the doorway before taking a few steps forward. "Blaze?" he asks, getting her attention.

The feline turns and gives him a faint smile before hopping down. "Finally up and about huh?"

Lucario's ear twitches at her voice...something seemed off about it. Some part of it was missing...she sounded so...hollow, as if something was bothering her.

"Is something wrong Blaze?"

She shakes her head, "I'm happy you've finally healed up...well, mostly," she corrects, pointing at the sling and spike.

_'Why is she changing the subject?'_ Lucario ponders before replying, "Yea. Hopefully these last bandages won't stay around for too much longer."

"That's good."

"May I stargaze with you?"

The faint smile returns before Blaze guides Lucario over to the side of the roof, where the two sit and look up at the twinkling lights. "So, what were you doing up here all alone?" Lucario asks after a few seconds, "There's a party downstairs you know."

"Yea I know...just not in much of a party mood tonight," she replies, then slips her hand into her pocket, "But, uh, I do have something for you."

Lucario looks just as she removes her hand, producing the Flare Cross necklace that Sheena and Igaguri gave him back in Altamira...only instead of it hanging from string, it dangles from a loop of silver chain.

"I found it after...blurting everything out," Blaze admits, holding the piece of jewelry up in the starlight, "I asked Sheena about it and she said it was yours. The string was broke so I replaced it with a spare chain of mine."

The feline hands it to him, but Lucario pushes her hand back. "I'll take it back when I can put it on myself," he laughs, flapping his injured arm for emphasis, "but thank you for giving it back. I forgot all about it."

Blaze smiles and turns away as she slips the jewelry back into her pocket.

"So...how've you been?" Lucario asks.

"Alright..."

"According to our friends, you've grown reclusive..."

"Well, a lot happened in such a short amount of time. It wasn't easy to process it all," Blaze admits.

"I'm not saying it is, but what's really there to figure out? We went there, got side-tracked a little, got rid of my curse, and-"

Lucario couldn't finish that sentence, as Blaze suddenly rounds on him and yells, "Why did you do something so stupid?"

"What?"

"At Agate! Why did you force us to leave? We could've helped you fight off your shadow!" She yells, tears starting to stream from her eyes. She falls towards him and buries her face in his left shoulder. "When we came back in and saw you lying there...that scared me so badly...and then when it took you so long to wake up...I thought you were gone Lucario!

"How could you have scared me so badly? If you just let us help...maybe you wouldn't have been hurt like that. Surely you knew that we could've helped, so why did you make us leave? Why did you fight all alone?" she gasps and weakly clutches at his arm.

Lucario puts his good arm around the sobbing girl, the best sort of comfort he could give. "Believe me when I say I'm deeply sorry for frightening you like that. But I forced you and the others to leave so you wouldn't get hurt. I knew full well that you could've helped, but you saw yourself the damage my dark-half could've inflicted. I barely managed to survive and even I don't know how, but what if that happened to someone as frail as Colette? Or to Sonic? Their lives would be forever in ruins if they were lucky enough to survive. I wouldn't have been able to bear it if something like that happened to any of you...if my dark-half managed to ruin a life."

"So you took all the punishment yourself?"

"I had to." Lucario tightens up his grip on Blaze, pulling her closer. "I'm so sorry for frightening you like that. It was stubborn and foolish of me, but I just couldn't bear the thought of you...or any of the others getting hurt. Please forgive me."

"I do...I just couldn't understand why you did what you did. But I couldn't stop thinking about what would happen if...if you didn't wake up. If you didn't come back. Trying to handle that...I just couldn't...especially because I..." Blaze wiggles away from him enough to look Lucario in the eyes. "I really li-"

"Hey Luca! What-sha you doing up here?" yells an oddly tipsy Falco, causing the pokemon and mobian to yell and hop apart; both pairs of cheeks aflame. "Ur party is-just getting good!"

"I'll be down in a minute Falco." he says, sighing as the avian wanders back downstairs. He looks back at the mobian, finding her looking off in another direction.

"You gonna come with me? It just doesn't feel complete without all my friends."

"Yea, I'll be down in a minute," she replies.

"So, what were you gonna say before Falco interrupted?"

"It wasn't anything important."

Blaze heaves a sad sigh before she perks up at the feeling of lips pressing behind her left ear. She whips around to see a blue tail disappearing down the stairs, then rests a hand over her quickly, erratically beating heart. _'Did Lucario just...kiss me?'_ her mind thinks, over and over again. Her expression gradually changes from shock to sadness, _'But doesn't he see the problem? Its just my luck, I find a wonderful guy but can't be with him...no matter how much I want to.'_

She brushes the tears from her eyes, _'At least he got his heart back. The least I can do is enjoy our remaining time together.'_

With one big mental shove, Blaze forces away the rainclouds and smiles. Her heels click on the concrete of the roof a few times as she heads downstairs, determined to enjoy her friend's birthday party...

...and luckily for Falco, she forgot all about lighting his rear on fire for the interruption.


	35. Cosmic Memories

**This chapter is short, and it focuses on Master Hand instead of Lucario and his gang, but you'll see why I uploaded it in the end note.**

**Also, since this is a '5th' chapter, its time for another Disclaimer. I do not own anything that appears in this chapter. Absolutely nothing, and they are all property of their respective companies. I only own the mansion.**

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Chapter 35 Cosmic Memories

Master Hand floats behind the desk in his office, watching the holographic screen in front of him. The floating image is playing video of a teenage boy with spiky brown hair, a black, red, and gold outfit, and bright blue eyes as he fights off truly bizarre creatures, which wouldn't have looked out of place in the Subspace Army, with, of all things, a giant key.

The giant glove watches as the boy and his companions, a duck with a magic staff and a large dopey-looking dog with a shield, fight off a truly massive hoard of the creatures. "Well, Sora truly is exceptional. He might fit in pretty well here..." he sighs while trailing off, "_IF_ that damn region of space would stabilize already. I swear, a bobble-head in an earthquake is more stable than that place. Some of those planets flicker in and out of existence almost weekly!"

Master types on the holographic keyboard beneath the screen, getting the image to fade out. "I can't risk teleporting him or anyone from there until it stabilizes. Last thing I want is to poke a hole in the dimensional wall...I remember the last time that happened, I almost broke both Mobius!"

The glove types a little more, bringing up a picture of Mobius viewed from space. The green, blue, and white orb serenely floats in the cosmic abyss, surrounded by countless stars...and yet, almost two years ago, Master accidentally prodded the unstable planet. Next thing he knew, there were two Eggmen running around and he first laid eyes on Blaze. If it weren't for the pull between the Chaos and Sol Emeralds, Master Hand could've easily pushed the two apart...but there's just some things he can't do.

Thankfully, Sonic and his friends were able to keep the versions from being forced together...although later, they were fuzed into a singular new Mobius. Master Hand wasn't responsible, nor were the residents of either planet, but he couldn't help but notice that it seemed to happen around the same time Tabuu exploded.

That Subspace is a mysterious place, not even Master Hand truly understands how it works, but nevertheless, Tabuu exploded and Sonic's Mobius and Blaze's Mobius became one. Despite an initially rocky start, the residents adapted pretty well...of course, they've also got death-cannons mounted on floating space stations, demi-gods going on rampages, and even a brain-washing beam disguised as an interplanetary amusement park; so they're used to a lot of weird crap happening.

"I sure learned my lesson. Having the destruction of an entire planet on your mind is not fun...oy, speaking of which," Master Hand types another command into his virtual computer, changing the view from the multi-colored jewel of Mobius to a disturbing new planet. The whole place's atmosphere glows a toxic red, and even from space numerous scars are visible on its blackened surface while the oceans glow an eerie, foreboding purple.

The whole place seemed to emanate evil, but in reality, its dead as a door-knob. Left as a shell of its former self after the Subspace Incident. The planet's name is Tendonia, and she used to be what utopias dreamed of. Lush green grass carpeting her fields, majestic rock formations demanding attention in the plains and deserts, bluer than sapphire oceans that stretched to the horizon beyond the horizon, air so fresh it invigorated the soul with a single breath, and a powerful, young star keeping her warm.

She used to be home to three races, although there was also evidence of an ancient, fourth race. The Polygons lived in the time before the others, and went extinct long before the other three rose to power. Why? Nobody knows, not even Master Hand. By the time he found the planet in his galactic wanderings, the Polygons were long extinct.

The Wireframes lived in small monarchies that dotted all of Tendonia's continents, and even though they fought on occasion, they were peaceful for the most part...although not too friendly to trespassers. Often times Master Hand found himself under fire from the Wireframes while attempting to find a place for his mansion.

The Alloys lived in a single Megalopolis, a city that ate up half of the planet's largest continent. The city possessed technology far exceeding anything the others had, and operated perfectly without producing a single ounce of pollution. The Megalopolis held millions if not billions of the Alloy race, and took aesthetics into account just as much as function. She outshines any utopia that any author could have ever dreamed of.

The fourth race only inhabited a single floating island that wandered the skies of Tendonia. The ROBs were sentient robots, dedicating themselves to uncovering and solving every last problem the universe kept hidden. Their floating island kept them isolated from the rest of the world, but they had no interest in keeping the Wireframes and Alloys in contact. Their robotic eyes only followed whichever path science led them down.

Sadly, all three races would go the way of the Polygons. Tabuu's attack first began by crushing the kingdoms of the Wireframes, sparing none of them. The Alloy's Megalopolis fell next, her advanced technology worthless against the debilitating strikes of the Subspace Army. Even the ROBs took notice of Tabuu's merciless slaughtering, and threw themselves on his mercy.

Realizing he could use their technology to manufacture Subspace Bombs, which would tear holes between their dimension and Subspace, Tabuu enslaved all of them. Reduced to grunts whose only purpose is to act as keys to the bombs, the ROBs carried out his suicidal orders...until the Central ROB, the ROB who now roams the halls of the mansion and participates in the Clashes, finally made the hardest decision.

He ordered his companions to detonate every last bomb inside of their precious homeland, instead of flying them out to the coordinates as ordered. He left with the other smashers, watching as his family, unable to separate from the bombs, were utterly destroyed in the dark blast.

The little robot fought bravely in the name of vengeance, determined to let the final page of his race's legacy be one that championed a brave warrior instead of pitying a race of slaves. Tabuu was defeated soon afterward, the explosion caused by his demise blowing everyone out of Subspace before the portals shut for good.

The smashers celebrated their victory, but there was one more casualty. Tendonia was left scarred and polluted by the war; her verdant fields left sickly brown, majestic formations mere piles of rubble, the oceans a hazardous soup, and her atmosphere breathable but unhealthy. Master Hand returned his smashers to their homeworlds while seeking a new world to move his mansion to. He settled here outside the little town of Fina, later renamed as Smashville, and abandoned his precious Tendonia; leaving her to grow sicker, with nothing left for anyone.

Master Hand heaves a heavy sigh while watching the rotten planet. She was more than any mere hunk of habitable rock, she was perfection given form; one in infinity. Her beauty now lay in shambles, damaged beyond repair, and left as nothing but a reminder of the horrors that lurk in the cosmos...and that in wars, no side can claim a perfect victory.

The glove sighs, turning the image off before he grows too depressed. What an odd place this galaxy is...so many wonders. Take into the account the variance of reality itself, and some truly mind boggling stuff can arise. The pocket dimension that Palkia and Dialga hide in, or the strange flip-side of Hyrule; the Twilight Realm.

"Reality is almost never realistic," Master chuckles to himself, "I love poking around, seeing what I can find...just have to be careful not to upset one of the other deities out there. Palutena is nice enough, but I remember when I tweaked Hyrule a little. That Din nearly burned me to ash!"

The glove laughs over what transpired between him and one of Faydru's goddesses. All he did was clear some of the trees from Hyrule Field to use in his mansion...next thing he knew that flaming red-head is chasing him around the planet with a death-glare in her eye. Thank heavens her sisters Nayru and Farore stepped in to calm the hot-head down...

Master Hand laughs to himself again. Those three are rather kind when one is on their good side, and they're quite the lookers too. He can always count on those three to help him and his brother out if they need something from their planet...well, two of the three at least. Din's still a little peeved at Master Hand.

He sighs before going back to work, calling up and looking over the statistics for each Smasher present. Wins, losses, total matches, etc. it never hurts to keep good tabs on one's guests. He never pushes one Smasher into too many matches in a short time frame, and does his best to not favor one over another. They're only human after all...or pokenoan...or mobian...hyrulian...they're only mortal after all!

_'Hmm, says here that Olimar's been lagging a bit. Better queue up some battles for him...are there any others that need some more matches?' _The hand resumes his work, queuing up the battles for the next few days, double-checking to make sure he's balancing the strain evenly among his guests, then goes to review the next order of business.

Every now and then he slacks off to play a few computer games, then returns to work after getting blown up for the tenth time on Minesweeper. The hours pass by without the glove even taking notice, and by the time he glances out the window, thinking only an hour or so has passed, he's shocked to see a setting sun instead of clear blue skies.

"Great Aether above! What time is it?" he yells, spinning around to look at the clock. 6:34 PM, is what it reads. "Oh curse this tunnel vision of mine! Curse it curse it curse it! I nearly forgot to give that important announcement!"

In his panic, Master Hand fumbles while trying to start the intercom and accidentally hits the light switch instead. He yells curses that no smasher has ever heard before as he tries to find the switch again in the dark; finally does, and clicks the intercom on.

"Attention Smashers! Attention Smashers! I nearly forgot to make this important announcement today!"

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**I will be honest, I do not like this chapter. However, this does satisfy what I wanted it to do. First, its an upload and at least something for my fans (however many are left after my long absence, to which I have no excuse for. I was lazy and procrastinated, which isn't fair to the fans and I am sorry) to read over, but it gives me a chance for some more reader input.**

**Basically, I have two idea for the next arc of this story, but I can't decide which to implement first. So what do you guys want? The first tournament of the season? Or a prolonged meeting with Rosalina and her Comet Observatory? Both will occur, but which do you want me to write first? Leave your vote in the review, and I'll go from there.**


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